Electronically documenting locate operations for underground utilities

ABSTRACT

A technician performs a locate operation of an underground utility in a dig area of proposed excavation by applying one or more physical colored markers (e.g., paint, flags, other colored markers) to ground, pavement or other surface to indicate a presence or an absence of the underground utility in the dig area. A digital image of a geographic area comprising the dig area is displayed on a display device, and one or more electronic colored markers corresponding to the physical colored marker(s) are added to the displayed digital image so as to generate a marked-up image. Information relating to the marked-up image is electronically transmitted and/or electronically stored so as to document the locate operation.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit, under 35 U.S.C. §120, as acontinuation (CON) of U.S. Non-provisional application Ser. No.13/796,487, filed Mar. 12, 2013, entitled “Electronically DocumentingLocate Operations For Underground Utilities.”

Application Ser. No. 13/796,487 claims the benefit, under 35 U.S.C.§120, as a continuation (CON) of U.S. Non-provisional application Ser.No. 13/625,436, filed Sep. 24, 2012, entitled “Searchable Records ofUnderground Facility Locate Marking Operations.”

Application Ser. No. 13/625,436 claims the benefit, under 35 U.S.C.§120, as a continuation (CON) of U.S. Non-provisional application Ser.No. 12/369,232, filed Feb. 11, 2009, entitled “Searchable ElectronicRecords of Underground Facility Locate Marking Operations.”

Application Ser. No. 12/369,232 claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §120as a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/029,732, filed Feb. 12, 2008, entitled “Electronic Manifest ofUnderground Facility Locate Marks.”

Application Ser. No. 12/369,232 also claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C.§120 as a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/366,853, filed Feb. 6, 2009, entitled “Virtual White Lines forIndicating Planned Excavation Sites on Electronic Images,” which in turnclaims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §120 as a continuation-in-part ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/050,555, filed Mar. 18, 2008,entitled “Virtual White Lines for Delimiting Planned Excavation Sites.”

Each of the above-identified applications is hereby incorporated hereinby reference.

BACKGROUND

Excavators are required to notify underground facility owners/operatorsin advance of their excavation activities and to describe andcommunicate the geographic area of those activities to undergroundfacility owners/operators. The geographic area so described is commonlyreferred to as “the dig area.” In turn, facility owners/operators arerequired to determine if they own or operate any underground facilitiesat an identified dig area. The presence of underground facilities at adig area is generally detected using a device commonly referred to as a“locate wand.” Locate wands use a number of electronic methods to detectthe presence of underground facilities. The location of thoseunderground facilities, if any, which exist within a dig area, is markedusing paint or some other physical marking system, such as flags. Paintis generally applied as a sequence of dashes or dots on the surface(grass, dirt, asphalt, concrete, etc.) directly above the undergroundfacility and is color-coded to indicate to the excavator the type (e.g.,gas, water, sewer, power, telephone, cable television, etc.) of theunderground facility present. Flags, which also may identify theunderground facility via color-coding, can be placed in the grounddirectly above the underground facility being marked. Paint and/or flagscan be dispensed using various devices. The application of paint, flags,or some other marking object to indicate the presence of an undergroundfacility is called a “locate.” The marks resulting from a locate arecommonly called underground facility “locate marks.”

Underground facility owners/operators may perform locates with in-houseemployees or choose to hire independent contract locating firms toperform locates on their behalf. Generally, the person performing thelocate operation is called a locate technician. The set of instructionsnecessary for a locate technician to perform a locate operation may becalled a “ticket.” A ticket might specify, for example, the address ordescription of the dig area to be marked, the day and/or time that thedig area is to be marked, and/or whether the user is to mark the digarea for telecommunications (e.g., telephone and/or cable television),power, gas, water, sewer, or some other underground facility.

It is generally recommended, or in some jurisdictions required, todocument the type and number of underground facilities located, i.e.telephone, power, gas, water, sewer, etc., and the approximategeographic location of the locate marks. Often times it is alsorecommended or required to document the distance, or “offset” of thelocate marks from environmental landmarks that exist at the dig area. Anenvironmental landmark may include any physical object that is likely toremain in a fixed location for an extended period of time. Examples ofan environmental landmark may include a tree, a curb, a driveway, autility pole, a fire hydrant, a storm drain, a pedestal, a water meterbox, a manhole lid, a building structure (e.g., a residential or officebuilding), or a light post. For example, a telephone cable located twoand a half meters behind the curb of a residential street would bedocumented as being offset two and a half meters behind the curb. Theseoffsets serve as evidence supporting the location of the locate marksafter those locate marks may have been disturbed by the excavationprocess.

Documentation of some or all of the information regarding a locateoperation is often called a “manifest.” A manifest may typically containa variety of information related to a locate operation including asketch or drawing of the dig area that identifies the approximatelocation of the locate marks and environmental landmarks present at thedig area; the time and date the locate operation was performed;identification of the entity and the locate technician performing thelocate operation; the entity requesting the locate operation; thegeographic address of the dig area; the type of markings used for thelocate operation (e.g., colored paint, flags, or other markers); notesfrom the locate technician; and/or a technician signature.

If performing locate operations with in-house employees, each individualunderground facility owner/operator generally documents on the manifestonly the existence of its facilities and the approximate location of itslocate marks. If an independent contract locating firm is hired toperform locates for more than one underground facility owner/operator,the contract locating firm may document on the manifest some or all ofthe underground facilities at the dig area that it located and theapproximate location of all the locate marks.

Currently, locate marks are generally documented using a sketchingprocess which results in the creation of a paper manifest. Sketches areproduced by hand, are not to scale, prone to human error, and costly indrafting time spent by the locate technician. They are stored manuallyor in some jurisdictions are digitally scanned/photographed and theimage stored electronically. Because the manifests are stored as paperor digital images, they are not easily interrogated for data in anymechanized way.

SUMMARY

Various embodiments of the present invention are directed to methods,apparatus and systems for creating a searchable electronic record, or“electronic manifest,” relating to a geographic area including a digarea to be excavated or otherwise disturbed. As part of the electronicrecord, the geographic location of one or more physical locate marks,applied to the dig area during a locate operation to indicate a presence(or absence) of one or more located underground facilities, is somehowidentified with respect to its immediate surroundings in the geographicarea.

To create such an electronic record, in one exemplary implementation oneor more input images relating to the geographic area including the digarea may be utilized. For example, source data representing one or moreinput images of a geographic area including the dig area is receivedand/or processed so that the input image(s) may be displayed on adisplay device. The geographic location of the physical locate mark(s)is then indicated in some manner on the displayed input image(s) so asto generate one or more marked-up images constituting at least a portionof the electronic record. For example, geographic locations of thephysical locate mark(s) may be indicated in the marked-up image(s) usingdigital representation(s) of the physical locate mark(s) (“locate markindicators”) that are added to the marked-up image(s). In otherimplementations, the input image need not necessarily be displayed toadd one or more locate mark indicators; for example, geographicinformation relating to one or more physical locate marks applied to thedig area may be received and locate mark indicator(s) may be added tothe input image based on the geographic information, without requiringdisplay of the input image.

In some implementations of the inventive concepts disclosed herein, thesearchable electronic record may include a variety of non-imageinformation to facilitate identification of the geographic location ofthe physical locate mark(s) (e.g., a text description of the geographiclocation of the physical locate mark(s), an address or lot number of aproperty within which the physical locate mark(s) are located,geo-encoded information such as geographic coordinates relating to thephysical locate mark(s) and/or various aspects of the geographic areasurrounding the physical locate mark(s), as well as other non-imageinformation relating generally to the locate operation (e.g., atimestamp for the locate operation, geographic information relating tothe dig area, one or more identifiers for a locate technician and/or alocate company performing the locate operation, information regardingone or more environmental landmarks, etc.). The marked-up image(s) andthe non-image information may be formatted in a variety of manners inthe searchable electronic record; for example, in one implementation thenon-image information may be included as metadata associated with themarked-up image(s), while in other implementations the marked-upimage(s) and the non-image information may be formatted as separate datasets. These separate data sets may be transmitted and/or storedseparately. In another aspect, whether transmitted/stored separately ortogether, the marked-up image(s) and the non-image information may belinked together in some manner as relating to a common electronicrecord.

In sum, one embodiment of the present invention is directed to a methodperformed by a device. The method comprises receiving informationregarding a particular geographic area; retrieving an aerial image ofthe particular geographic area; displaying the aerial image; determiningan approximate geographic location of a locate mark denoting anunderground facility; overlaying, on the displayed aerial image,information concerning the approximate geographic location of the locatemark denoting the underground facility; and storing the aerial image andthe information concerning the approximate geographic location of thelocate mark denoting the underground facility.

Another embodiment of the present invention is directed to a device,comprising a memory to store aerial images of a plurality of geographicareas; and a processing unit to receive information regarding aparticular one of the geographic areas, retrieve one of the aerialimages from the memory based on the received information, receiveinformation concerning an approximate geographic location of anunderground facility locate mark located within the particulargeographic area, present, on the retrieved aerial image, the informationconcerning the approximate geographic location of the undergroundfacility locate mark, and store the retrieved aerial image and theinformation concerning the approximate geographic location of theunderground facility locate mark.

A further embodiment of the present invention is directed to a system,comprising means for identifying a geographic area; means for retrievingan aerial image of the geographic area; means for displaying theretrieved image; means for receiving input from a user concerning anapproximate geographic location of underground facility locate marksthat are located within the geographic area; means for presenting, onthe displayed aerial image, a marking that identifies the approximategeographic location of the underground facility locate marks within thegeographic area; and means for storing the displayed aerial image withthe marking that identifies the approximate geographic location of theunderground facility locate marks.

Another embodiment of the present invention is directed to a system,comprising a central server to store a plurality of aerial images of acorresponding plurality of geographical locations; and a user device toidentify a particular geographic location, determine whether the userdevice stores an aerial image corresponding to the particular geographiclocation, retrieve the aerial image from the central server when theuser device does not store the aerial image corresponding to theparticular geographic location, retrieve the aerial image from a localmemory when the user device stores the aerial image corresponding to theparticular geographic location, display the aerial image, receiveinformation regarding an approximate location of underground facilitylocate marks located at the particular geographic location, and present,on the displayed aerial image, a marking that identifies the approximatelocation of the underground facility locate marks.

A further embodiment of the present invention is directed to a methodperformed by a device. The method comprises receiving informationregarding a particular geographic area; retrieving an aerial image ofthe particular geographic area; receiving, from a global positioningsystem (GPS)-enabled device, information regarding an approximatelocation of underground facility locate marks; displaying, as a combinedimage, the aerial image and the information regarding the approximatelocation of underground facility locate marks; and storing the combinedimage.

Another embodiment of the present invention is directed to a device,comprising a memory to store images of a plurality of geographiclocations; a processing unit to retrieve one of the images from thememory based on received information, the received informationconcerning a geographic location of an underground facility locate marklocated within a particular dig area; present, on the retrieved image,the received information of the underground facility locate mark; andstore the retrieved image and the received information of the geographiclocation of the underground facility locate mark.

A further embodiment of the present invention is directed to a system,comprising means for identifying a geographic location; means forretrieving an image of the geographic location; means for displaying theretrieved image; means for receiving input from a user concerning ageographic location of underground facility locate marks that arelocated within the dig area; means for presenting, on the displayedimage, a marking that identifies the geographic location of theunderground facility locate marks within the dig area; and means forstoring the displayed image with the marking that identifies thegeographic location of the underground facility locate marks.

Another embodiment of the present invention is directed to a system,comprising a central server to store a plurality of images of aplurality of geographical locations; a user device to identify at leastone of the geographic locations, and to retrieve the image from thecentral server when the user device does not store the imagecorresponding to at least one of the geographic locations, or toretrieve the image from a local memory when the user device stores theimage corresponding to the at least one of the geographic locations;display the image; receive information regarding an approximate locationof underground facility locate marks located at the at least onegeographic location; and present, on the displayed image, a marking thatidentifies the approximate location of the underground facility locatemarks.

A further embodiment of the present invention is directed to a methodfor generating a searchable electronic record of a locate operationperformed by a locate technician. The locate operation comprisesidentifying, using at least one physical locate mark, a presence or anabsence of at least one underground facility within a dig area. At leasta portion of the dig area may be excavated or disturbed duringexcavation activities. The method comprises A) electronically receivinga digital image of a geographic area comprising the dig area, at least aportion of the received digital image being displayed on a displaydevice; B) adding to the displayed digital image at least one digitalrepresentation of the at least one physical locate mark applied by thelocate technician during the locate operation so as to generate amarked-up digital image including the at least one digitalrepresentation of the at least one physical locate mark; and C)electronically transmitting and/or electronically storing informationrelating to the marked-up digital image so as to generate the searchableelectronic record of the locate operation.

Another embodiment of the present invention is directed to acomputer-readable medium encoded with instructions that, when executedon at least one processing unit, perform a method of generating asearchable electronic record of a locate operation performed by a locatetechnician. The locate operation comprises identifying, using at leastone physical locate mark, a presence or an absence of at least oneunderground facility within a dig area. At least a portion of the digarea may be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities, themethod comprising A) electronically receiving a digital image of ageographic area comprising the dig area; B) receiving user inputregarding a geographic location of the at least one physical locate markapplied by the locate technician during the locate operation; and C)rendering a screen display comprising at least a portion of the receiveddigital image and at least one digital representation of the at leastone physical locate mark, wherein the at least one digitalrepresentation is positioned with respect to the at least a portion ofthe received digital image based at least in part on the user inputreceived in B).

A further embodiment of the present invention is directed to anapparatus for facilitating generation of a searchable electronic recordof a locate operation performed by a locate technician. The locateoperation comprising identifying, using at least one physical locatemark, a presence or an absence of at least one underground facilitywithin a dig area. At least a portion of the dig area may be excavatedor disturbed during excavation activities. The apparatus comprises acommunication interface; a display device; a user input device; a memoryto store processor-executable instructions; and a processing unitcoupled to the communication interface, the display device, the userinput device, and the memory, wherein upon execution of theprocessor-executable instructions by the processing unit. The processingunit controls the communication interface to electronically receive adigital image of a geographic area including the dig area; controls thedisplay device to display at least a portion of the received digitalimage; acquires user input from the user input device, the user inputrelating to a geographic location of the at least one physical locatemark applied by the locate technician during the locate operation;generates a marked-up digital image including at least one digitalrepresentation of the at least one physical locate mark based at leastin part on the user input; and further controls the communicationinterface and/or the memory to electronically transmit and/orelectronically store information relating to the marked-up digital imageso as to generate the searchable electronic record of the locateoperation.

Another embodiment of the present invention is directed to a method forgenerating a searchable electronic record of a locate operationperformed by a locate technician. The locate operation comprisesidentifying, using at least one physical locate mark, a presence or anabsence of at least one underground facility within a dig area. At leasta portion of the dig area may be excavated or disturbed duringexcavation activities. The method comprises A) electronically receivinga digital image of a geographic area comprising the dig area, at least aportion of the received digital image being displayed on a displaydevice; B) electronically receiving location information regarding anidentified location of the at least one physical locate mark; C) basedat least in part on the location information received in B), digitallyrepresenting, on the displayed digital image, the identified location ofthe at least one physical locate mark applied by the locate technicianduring the locate operation so as to generate a marked-up digital imageincluding the at least one digital representation of the at least onephysical locate mark; and D) electronically transmitting and/orelectronically storing information relating to the marked-up digitalimage so as to generate the searchable electronic record of the locateoperation.

A further embodiment of the present invention is directed to acomputer-readable medium encoded with instructions that, when executedon at least one processing unit, perform a method of generating asearchable electronic record of a locate operation performed by a locatetechnician. The locate operation comprises identifying, using at leastone physical locate mark, a presence or an absence of at least oneunderground facility within a dig area. At least a portion of the digarea may be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities. Themethod comprises A) electronically receiving a digital image of ageographic area comprising the dig area; B) electronically receiving,from a GPS-enabled device, information regarding a GPS-determinedgeographic location of the at least one physical locate mark applied bythe locate technician during the locate operation; C) rendering a screendisplay comprising at least a portion of the received digital image andat least one digital representation of the at least one physical locatemark, wherein the at least one digital representation is positioned withrespect to the at least a portion of the received digital image based onthe GPS-determined geographic location of the at least one physicallocate mark; and D) electronically transmitting and/or electronicallystoring information identifying the GPS-determined geographic locationof the at least one physical locate mark so as to document the at leastone physical locate mark applied by the locate technician.

Another embodiment of the present invention is directed to an apparatusfor facilitating generation of a searchable electronic record of alocate operation performed by a locate technician. The locate operationcomprises identifying, using at least one physical locate mark, apresence or an absence of at least one underground facility within a digarea. At least a portion of the dig area may be excavated or disturbedduring excavation activities. The apparatus comprises a communicationinterface; a display device; a memory to store processor-executableinstructions; and a processing unit coupled to the communicationinterface, the display device, and the memory, wherein upon execution ofthe processor-executable instructions by the processing unit. Theprocessing unit controls the communication interface to electronicallyreceive a digital image of a geographic area including the dig area;controls the display device to display at least a portion of thereceived digital image; acquires input from a marking device configuredto apply the at least one physical locate mark to the dig area, theinput relating to a geographic location of the at least one physicallocate mark applied by the locate technician during the locateoperation; generates a marked-up digital image including at least onedigital representation of the at least one physical locate mark, basedat least in part on the input acquired from the marking device; andfurther controls the communication interface and/or the memory toelectronically transmit and/or electronically store information relatingto the marked-up digital image so as to generate the searchableelectronic record of the locate operation.

A further embodiment of the present invention is directed to anapparatus for facilitating generation of a searchable electronic recordof a locate operation performed by a locate technician. The locateoperation comprises identifying a presence or an absence of at least oneunderground facility within a dig area. At least a portion of the digarea may be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities. Theapparatus comprises a communication interface; a display device; amemory to store processor-executable instructions; and a processing unitcoupled to the communication interface, the display device, and thememory. Upon execution of the processor-executable instructions by theprocessing unit, the processing unit controls the communicationinterface to electronically receive an image of a geographic areaincluding the dig area; controls the display device to display at leasta portion of the received image; combines the electronically receivedimage with image-related information so as to generate the searchableelectronic record, and controls the communication interface and/or thememory to electronically transmit and/or electronically store thesearchable electronic record of the locate operation so that performanceof the location operation is verifiable. The image-related informationcomprises a geographic location associated with the dig area; and atimestamp indicative of when the locate operation occurred.

Another embodiment of the present invention is directed to a method forgenerating a searchable electronic record of a locate operationperformed by a locate technician. The locate operation comprisesidentifying a presence or an absence of at least one undergroundfacility within a dig area. At least a portion of the dig area may beexcavated or disturbed during excavation activities. The methodcomprises A) electronically receiving an image of a geographic areacomprising the dig area; B) combining the electronically received imagewith image-related information so as to generate the searchableelectronic record; and C) electronically transmitting and/orelectronically storing the searchable electronic record of the locateoperation so that performance of the location operation is verifiable.The image-related information comprises a geographic location associatedwith the dig area; and a timestamp indicative of when the locateoperation occurred.

A further embodiment of the present invention is directed to acomputer-readable medium encoded with instructions that, when executedon at least one processing unit, perform a method of generating asearchable electronic record of a locate operation performed by a locatetechnician. The locate operation comprises identifying a presence or anabsence of at least one underground facility within a dig area, whereinat least a portion of the dig area may be excavated or disturbed duringexcavation activities. The method comprises A) electronically receivingan image of a geographic area comprising the dig area; B) combining theelectronically received image with image-related information so as togenerate the searchable electronic record; and C) electronicallytransmitting and/or electronically storing the searchable electronicrecord of the locate operation so that performance of the locationoperation is verifiable. The image-related information comprises ageographic location associated with the dig area; and a timestampindicative of when the locate operation occurred.

Another embodiment of the present invention is directed to a method forgenerating a searchable electronic record of a locate operationperformed by a locate technician. The locate operation comprisesidentifying, using at least one physical locate mark, a presence or anabsence of at least one underground facility within a dig area. At leasta portion of the dig area may be excavated or disturbed duringexcavation activities. The method comprises A) electronically receivingsource data representing at least one input image of a geographic areacomprising the dig area; B) processing the source data so as to displayat least a portion of the at least one input image on a display device;C) adding to the displayed at least one input image at least one digitalrepresentation of the at least one physical locate mark applied by thelocate technician during the locate operation so as to generate amarked-up image including the at least one digital representation of theat least one physical locate mark; and D) electronically transmittingand/or electronically storing information relating to the marked-upimage so as to generate the searchable electronic record of the locateoperation.

A further embodiment of the present invention is directed to at leastone computer-readable medium encoded with instructions that, whenexecuted on at least one processing unit, perform a method forgenerating a searchable electronic record of a locate operationperformed by a locate technician. The locate operation comprisesidentifying, using at least one physical locate mark, a presence or anabsence of at least one underground facility within a dig area. At leasta portion of the dig area may be excavated or disturbed duringexcavation activities. The method comprises A) electronically receivingsource data representing at least one input image of a geographic areacomprising the dig area; B) processing the source data so as to displayat least a portion of the at least one input image on a display device;C) adding to the displayed at least one input image at least one digitalrepresentation of the at least one physical locate mark applied by thelocate technician during the locate operation so as to generate amarked-up image including the at least one digital representation of theat least one physical locate mark; and D) electronically transmittingand/or electronically storing information relating to the marked-upimage so as to generate the searchable electronic record of the locateoperation.

Another embodiment of the present invention is directed to an apparatusfor facilitating generation of a searchable electronic record of alocate operation performed by a locate technician. The locate operationcomprises identifying, using at least one physical locate mark, apresence or an absence of at least one underground facility within a digarea. At least a portion of the dig area may be excavated or disturbedduring excavation activities. The apparatus comprises a communicationinterface; a display device; a memory to store processor-executableinstructions; and a processing unit coupled to the communicationinterface, the display device, and the memory, wherein upon execution ofthe processor-executable instructions by the processing unit. Theprocessing unit controls the communication interface to electronicallyreceive source data representing at least one input image of ageographic area including the dig area; processes the source data andcontrols the display device so as to display at least a portion of theat least one input image; adds to the displayed at least one input imageat least one digital representation of the at least one physical locatemark applied by the locate technician during the locate operation so asto generate a marked-up image including the at least one digitalrepresentation of the at least one physical locate mark; and furthercontrols the communication interface and/or the memory to electronicallytransmit and/or electronically store information relating to themarked-up image so as to generate the searchable electronic record ofthe locate operation.

A further embodiment of the present invention is directed to a methodfor generating a searchable electronic record of a locate operationperformed by a locate technician. The locate operation comprisesidentifying, using at least one physical locate mark, a presence or anabsence of at least one underground facility within a dig area. At leasta portion of the dig area may be excavated or disturbed duringexcavation activities. The method comprises A) electronically receivingsource data representing at least one input image of a geographic areacomprising the dig area, the at least one input image including at leastone dig area indicator to provide at least one indication of the digarea in the displayed at least one input image; B) processing the sourcedata so as to display at least a portion of the at least one input imageincluding the at least one dig area indicator on a display device; C)adding to the displayed at least one input image at least one locatemark indicator to provide a digital representation of the at least onephysical locate mark applied by the locate technician during the locateoperation, thereby generating a marked-up image including the at leastone dig area indicator and the at least one locate mark indicator; andD) electronically transmitting and/or electronically storing informationrelating to the marked-up image so as to generate the searchableelectronic record of the locate operation.

Another embodiment of the present invention is directed at least onecomputer-readable medium encoded with instructions that, when executedon at least one processing unit, perform a method of generating asearchable electronic record of a locate operation performed by a locatetechnician. The locate operation comprises identifying, using at leastone physical locate mark, a presence or an absence of at least oneunderground facility within a dig area. At least a portion of the digarea may be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities. Themethod comprises A) electronically receiving source data representing atleast one input image of a geographic area comprising the dig area, theat least one input image including at least one dig area indicator toprovide at least one indication of the dig area in the displayed atleast one input image; B) processing the source data so as to display atleast a portion of the at least one input image including the at leastone dig area indicator on a display device; C) adding to the displayedat least one input image at least one locate mark indicator to provide adigital representation of the at least one physical locate mark appliedby the locate technician during the locate operation, thereby generatinga marked-up image including the at least one dig area indicator and theat least one locate mark indicator; and D) electronically transmittingand/or electronically storing information relating to the marked-upimage so as to generate the searchable electronic record of the locateoperation.

A further embodiment of the present invention is directed to anapparatus for facilitating generation of a searchable electronic recordof a locate operation performed by a locate technician. The locateoperation comprises identifying, using at least one physical locatemark, a presence or an absence of at least one underground facilitywithin a dig area. At least a portion of the dig area may be excavatedor disturbed during excavation activities. The apparatus comprises acommunication interface; a display device; a memory to storeprocessor-executable instructions; and a processing unit coupled to thecommunication interface, the display device, and the memory. Uponexecution of the processor-executable instructions by the processingunit, the processing unit controls the communication interface toelectronically receive source data representing at least one input imageof a geographic area comprising the dig area, the at least one inputimage including at least one dig area indicator to provide at least oneindication of the dig area in the displayed at least one input image;processes the source data and controls the display device so as todisplay at least a portion of the at least one input image including theat least one dig area indicator on the display device; adds to thedisplayed at least one input image at least one locate mark indicator toprovide a digital representation of the at least one physical locatemark applied by the locate technician during the locate operation,thereby generating a marked-up image including the at least one dig areaindicator and the at least one locate mark indicator; and furthercontrols the communication interface and/or the memory to electronicallytransmit and/or electronically store information relating to themarked-up image so as to generate the searchable electronic record ofthe locate operation.

Another embodiment of the present invention is directed to a method forcertifying a locate operation. The locate operation comprisesidentifying, using at least one physical locate mark, a presence or anabsence of at least one underground facility within a dig area. At leasta portion of the dig area may be excavated or disturbed duringexcavation activities. The method comprises A) electronically recalling,via a display device coupled to a central server, a searchableelectronic record of a locate operation performed by a locatetechnician, the searchable electronic record stored in memory associatedwith the central server. The searchable electronic record comprises (i)a marked-up digital image comprising a digital image of a geographicarea comprising the dig area, and at least one digital representation,marked on the digital image of the geographic area, of the at least onephysical locate mark, and (ii) a data set associated with the marked-updigital image, the data set including information relating to the locateoperation. The method further comprises B) verifying, based at least inpart on the electronically recalled searchable electronic record,whether the at least one digital representation of the at least onephysical locate mark in the marked-up digital image accurately reflectsthe presence or the absence of the at least one underground facilitywithin the dig area; C) altering the searchable electronic record, via auser interface device associated with the display device, to indicatecompletion of B); and D) electronically transmitting and/orelectronically storing the altered searchable electronic record so as tofacilitate the excavation activities and/or an investigation thereof

It should be appreciated that all combinations of the foregoing conceptsand additional concepts discussed in greater detail below (provided suchconcepts are not mutually inconsistent) are contemplated as being partof the inventive subject matter disclosed herein. In particular, allcombinations of claimed subject matter appearing at the end of thisdisclosure are contemplated as being part of the inventive subjectmatter disclosed herein. It should also be appreciated that terminologyexplicitly employed herein that also may appear in any disclosureincorporated by reference should be accorded a meaning most consistentwith the particular concepts disclosed herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate one or more embodiments describedherein and, together with the description, explain these embodiments. Inthe drawings:

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an exemplary searchable electronic record of alocate operation, according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagram of an exemplary network in which the variousinventive concepts described herein may be implemented, according to oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a diagram of exemplary components of the user device of FIG.2;

FIG. 4 is a diagram of exemplary components of the central server ofFIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a diagram of exemplary software routines for components ofFIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of an exemplary process for creating an electronicmanifest of underground facility locate marks, according to oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a diagram of an exemplary data set that may be stored in thememory of FIG. 3 and/or FIG. 4, according to one embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 8 is a diagram of an exemplary user interface that may be presentedvia the user device of FIG. 2, according to one embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating various elements of a searchableelectronic record of a locate operation according to one embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 10 shows a sketch 1000, representing an exemplary input image;

FIG. 11 shows a map 1100, representing an exemplary input image;

FIG. 12 shows a facility map 1200, representing an exemplary inputimage;

FIG. 13 shows a construction/engineering drawing 1300, representing anexemplary input image;

FIG. 14 shows a land survey map 1400, representing an exemplary inputimage;

FIG. 15 shows a grid 1500, overlaid on the construction/engineeringdrawing 1300 of FIG. 14, representing an exemplary input image; and

FIG. 16 shows a street level image 1600, representing an exemplary inputimage.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings.The same reference numbers in different drawings may identify the sameor similar elements. Also, the following detailed description does notlimit the invention.

Overview

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary searchable electronicrecord, or “electronic manifest,” of a locate operation, according toone embodiment of the present invention. When locating undergroundfacilities at a geographic location, such as at a dig area 100associated with a residence or a business, it may be beneficial todocument locate marks in a permanent and reproducible manner. Forexample, a locate technician may locate and mark underground facilitiesusing a locating device and/or a marking device. A locating device maygenerally be defined as a locating wand or another device used to detectthe presence of underground facilities, while a marking device maygenerally be defined as any tool (e.g., a paint wand) to apply aphysical locate mark, such as paint or other material to a surface. Thelocate technician may use paint, flags, or some other object with aparticular color or other characteristic to mark the location of anunderground facility. Referring to the example shown in FIG. 1, thelocate technician may use red paint to mark underground power lines 110,orange paint to mark telecommunications (e.g., telephone and/or cabletelevision) lines 120, and yellow paint to mark gas lines 130.

The locate technician may also identify one or more environmentallandmarks that are present at or near the dig area and/or determine thedistance between the environmental landmark(s) and the locatedunderground facility. For example, a transformer 140 may be indicated asan environmental landmark, as shown in FIG. 1. The geographic locationof transformer 140 may be used to measure offsets to other locate marksin the dig area.

As described herein, documentation of some or all of this informationregarding a locate operation is created as a searchable electronicrecord, also referred to herein as “an electronic manifest.” Anelectronic manifest, as used herein, may generally refer to one or morecomputer-readable files that include some or all of the information in amanifest. The electronic manifest may be created using one or more inputimages of a dig area, such as dig area 100, that may be combined withother information (e.g., non-image information) that is added by theuser (e.g., a locate technician) about the locate operation. In otherimplementations, an electronic manifest may be created using one or moreinput images of a dig area combined with information about locate marksthat is provided by other sources. Other implementations may use one ormore input images of a dig area combined with information that is addedby the user and information that is provided by other sources. As usedherein, a “user” may refer to any person operating a device to create anelectronic manifest, such as a locate technician, a site supervisor, orany other person or group of people.

Accordingly, various embodiments of the present invention are directedto methods, apparatus and systems for creating a searchable electronicrecord, or “electronic manifest,” relating to a geographic areaincluding a dig area to be excavated or otherwise disturbed. As part ofthe electronic record, the geographic location of one or more physicallocate marks, applied to the dig area during a locate operation toindicate a presence (or absence) of one or more located undergroundfacilities, is somehow identified with respect to its immediatesurroundings in the geographic area.

To create such an electronic record, in one exemplary implementation oneor more input images relating to the geographic area including the digarea may be utilized. For example, source data representing one or moreinput images of a geographic area including the dig area is receivedand/or processed so that the input image(s) may be displayed on adisplay device. The geographic location of the physical locate mark(s)is then indicated in some manner on the displayed input image(s) so asto generate one or more marked-up images constituting at least a portionof the electronic record. For example, geographic locations of thephysical locate mark(s) may be indicated in the marked-up image(s) usingdigital representation(s) of the physical locate mark(s) (“locate markindicators”) that are added to the marked-up image(s). In otherimplementations, the input image need not necessarily be displayed toadd one or more locate mark indicators; for example, geographicinformation relating to one or more physical locate marks applied to thedig area may be received and locate mark indicator(s) may be added tothe input image based on the geographic information, without requiringdisplay of the input image.

In some implementations of the inventive concepts disclosed herein, thesearchable electronic record may include a variety of non-imageinformation regarding the locate operation (e.g., a text description ofthe geographic location of the dig area, an address or lot number of aproperty within which the dig area is located, geo-encoded informationsuch as geographic coordinates relating to the physical locate mark(s)and/or various aspects of the geographic area surrounding the physicallocate mark(s), a timestamp for the locate operation, one or moreidentifiers for a locate technician and/or a locate company performingthe locate operation, information regarding one or more environmentallandmarks, etc.). The marked-up image(s) and the non-image informationmay be formatted in a variety of manners in the searchable electronicrecord; for example, in one implementation the non-image information maybe included as metadata associated with the marked-up image(s), while inother implementations the marked-up image(s) and the non-imageinformation may be formatted as separate data sets. These separate datasets may be transmitted and/or stored separately. In another aspect,whether transmitted/stored separately or together, the marked-upimage(s) and the non-image information may be linked together in somemanner as relating to a common electronic record.

As may be observed from FIG. 1, an input image serving as a startingpoint for creating a searchable electronic record according to variousembodiments of the present invention may be displayed (e.g., on a laptopcomputer), and the displayed input image provides a view of thegeographic area including dig area 100 (which, in FIG. 1, is essentiallyan entire property surrounding a building). Various embodiments relatingto the inventive concepts disclosed herein enable locate technicians orother users to indicate a geographic location of physical locate mark(s)applied to the dig area during a locate operation on one or moredisplayed input images. For purposes of the present disclosure, an inputimage is any image represented by source data that is electronicallyprocessed (e.g., the source data is in a computer-readable format) todisplay the image on a display device. An input image may include any ofa variety of paper/tangible image sources that are scanned (e.g., via anelectronic scanner) or otherwise converted so as to create source data(e.g., in various formats such as XML, PDF, JPG, BMP, etc.) that can beprocessed to display the input image. An input image also may include animage that originates as source data or an electronic file withoutnecessarily having a corresponding paper/tangible copy of the image(e.g., an image of a “real-world” scene acquired by a digital stillframe or video camera or other image acquisition device, in which thesource data, at least in part, represents pixel information from theimage acquisition device).

In some exemplary implementations, input images according to the presentdisclosure may be created, provided, and/or processed by a geographicinformation system (GIS) that captures, stores, analyzes, manages andpresents data referring to (or linked to) location, such that the sourcedata representing the input image includes pixel information from animage acquisition device (corresponding to an acquired “real world”scene or representation thereof), and/or spatial/geographic information(“geo-encoded information”). In this manner, a GIS provides a frameworkfor data manipulation and display of images that may facilitate one ormore of (a) location verification, (b) location correlation, (c)locational relationships, (d) district coding, (e) route analysis, (f)area analysis and (g) mapping/display creation, for example.

In view of the foregoing, various examples of input images and sourcedata representing input images according to the present disclosure, towhich the inventive concepts disclosed herein may be applied, includebut are not limited to:

-   -   Manual “free-hand” paper sketches of the geographic area (which        may include one or more buildings, natural or man-made        landmarks, property boundaries, streets/intersections, public        works or facilities such as street lighting, signage, fire        hydrants, mail boxes, parking meters, etc.). FIG. 10 shows an        exemplary sketch 1000;    -   Various maps indicating surface features and/or extents of        geographical areas, such as street/road maps (e.g., map 1100 of        FIG. 11), topographical maps, military maps, parcel maps, tax        maps, town and county planning maps, call-center and/or facility        polygon maps, virtual maps, etc. (such maps may or may not        include geo-encoded information);    -   Facility maps illustrating installed underground facilities,        such as gas, power, telephone, cable, fiber optics, water,        sewer, drainage, etc. Facility maps may also indicate        street-level features (streets, buildings, public facilities,        etc.) in relation to the depicted underground facilities.        Examples of facility maps include CAD drawings that may be        created and viewed with a GIS to include geo-encoded information        (e.g., metadata) that provides location information (e.g.,        infrastructure vectors) for represented items on the facility        map. An exemplary facility map 1200 is shown in FIG. 12;    -   Architectural, construction and/or engineering drawings and        virtual renditions of a space/geographic area (including “as        built” or post-construction drawings). An exemplary        construction/engineering drawing 1300 is shown in FIG. 13;    -   Land surveys, i.e., plots produced at ground level using        references to known points such as the center line of a street        to plot the metes and bounds and related location data regarding        a building, parcel, utility, roadway, or other object or        installation. FIG. 14 shows an exemplary land survey map 1400;    -   A grid (a pattern of horizontal and vertical lines used as a        reference) to provide representational geographic information        (which may be used “as is” for an input image or as an overlay        for an acquired “real world” scene, drawing, map, etc.). An        exemplary grid 1500, overlaid on construction/engineering        drawing 1300, is shown in FIG. 15. It should be appreciated that        the grid 1500 may itself serve as the input image (i.e., a        “bare” grid), or be used together with another underlying input        image;    -   “Bare” data representing geo-encoded information (geographical        data points) and not necessarily derived from an        acquired/captured real-world scene (e.g., not pixel information        from a digital camera or other digital image acquisition        device). Such “bare” data may be nonetheless used to construct a        displayed input image, and may be in any of a variety of        computer-readable formats, including XML); and    -   Photographic renderings/images, including street level (see        e.g., street level image 1600 of FIG. 16), topographical,        satellite, and aerial photographic renderings/images, any of        which may be updated periodically to capture changes in a given        geographic area over time (e.g., seasonal changes such as        foliage density, which may variably impact the ability to see        some aspects of the image); and    -   An image, such as any of the above image types, that includes        one or more dig area indicators, or “virtual white lines,” that        provide one or more indications of or graphically delimit a dig        area, as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No.        12/366,853, incorporated by reference herein. The virtual white        lines may include lines, drawing shapes, shades, symbols,        coordinates, data sets, or other indicators that are added to an        image, and may assist a locate technician in the performance of        a locate operation by identifying the area of interest, i.e.,        the dig area. In this manner, a searchable electronic record        according to the concepts disclosed herein may be generated        based on a previously marked-up input image on which the dig        area is indicated.

It should also be appreciated that source data representing an inputimage may be compiled from multiple data/information sources; forexample, any two or more of the examples provided above for input imagesand source data representing input images, or any two or more other datasources, can provide information that can be combined or integrated toform source data that is electronically processed to display an image ona display device.

As noted above, in some implementations an input image may be indexed toGlobal Positioning System (GPS) coordinates or another coordinate systemthat provides geo-spatial positioning. An input image may includegeo-coding or other geographical identification metadata and may beprovided in any computer-readable format. An input image may alsoinclude images of map symbols, such as roads and street names, that maybe superimposed upon or displayed separately from an underlyinggeographic area when the input image is displayed on a display device.

With reference again to FIG. 1, it may be observed that the dig area 100is indicated in the displayed input image by a dig area indicator orvirtual white line 150. As noted above, in one embodiment the inputimage may have been received with one or more dig area indicatorspreviously provided so that the dig area may be readily identified inthe displayed input image. While FIG. 1 illustrates a virtual white line150 as an essentially continuous line delimiting a boundary of the digarea, it should be appreciated that one or more dig area indicators arenot limited in this respect, and that such indicators may include lineshaving various colors and line-types (dashed, dotted, etc.), drawingshapes, shades, symbols, etc., and need not necessarily delimit anentire boundary of a dig area. Additionally, as also noted above, itshould be appreciated that in some embodiments an input image need notinclude any dig area indicators to provide a foundation for generating asearchable electronic record of a locate operation.

In FIG. 1, digital representations of the physical locate marks appliedto a dig area (e.g., corresponding to power lines 110,telecommunications lines 120 and gas lines 130 shown in FIG. 1), may beadded to the displayed input image to graphically indicate thegeographic locations of the physical locate marks in the dig area 100.Representations of the physical locate marks, also referred to as“locate mark indicators,” may be added to the displayed input imagethrough the use of a drawing application or marking tool application,which may superimpose over or otherwise display one or more locate markindicators on the displayed input image. As used herein,“representations of physical locate marks” or “locate mark indicators”may include lines, drawing shapes, shades, symbols, coordinates, datasets, or other indicators to provide one or more indications of thegeographic locations of the physical locate marks on a displayed inputimage. As discussed further below, a given locate mark indicator mayhave an associated attribute representing a type of underground facilitycorresponding to the physical locate mark(s) applied to the dig area.Examples of different attributes for a locate mark indicator include,but are not limited to, color, line-type, symbol-type, shape, shade,etc. (e.g., a first locate mark indicator for a gas line may include agreen dashed-line, a second locate mark indicator for a fiber opticcable may include a red dotted-line, a third locate mark indicator foran electric line may include one or more gray diamond shapes arrangedalong a path traversed in the input image by the buried electric line,etc.).

In some exemplary embodiments described herein, the marked-up imageshaving one or both of locate mark indicators and dig area indicators(“virtual white lines”), as well as non-image information, may form partof the searchable electronic record, and information regarding thesearchable electronic record (and in some instances the record itself)may be electronically transmitted and/or stored to facilitateverification of the locate operation. In one implementation, thenon-image information may include a series of geographical coordinatesrepresenting the locate mark indicator(s). These marked-up images andcoordinates enable documentation of where the physical locate marks weremade, even after the physical locate marks no longer exist. Suchdocumentation may be important in the event of accidental damage to anunderground facility or another event triggering a dispute concerningwhether the underground facilities were appropriately marked. Further,documentation provided by the searchable electronic records according tothe present disclosure may be helpful for training locate technicians,assessing the quality of locate operations, and ensuring that locateoperations have actually and/or accurately been performed without a needto visit the dig site thereafter. An electronic record comprising themarked-up image may be stored for later retrieval, and may besearchable. For example, data embedded within or otherwise associatedwith the marked-up image may be searchable (e.g., via a search engine)using key words.

Exemplary Network

FIG. 2 is a diagram of an exemplary network 200 in which systems andmethods described herein may be implemented. As shown in FIG. 2, thenetwork 200 may include a user device 210 connected to a central server220 and an image server 230 via a network 240. A single user device 210,central server 220, and image server 230 have been illustrated asconnected to network 240 for simplicity. In practice, there may be moreor fewer user devices and/or servers. For example, in one alternativeimplementation, the user device 210 may operate as a comprehensivedevice and, thus, the network 200 may include no central server, withuser device 210 communicating directly through network 240 to imageserver 230. Also, in some instances, the user device 210 may perform oneor more of the functions of the central server 220 and/or central server220 may perform one or more of the functions of the user device 210. Instill another implementation, multiple user devices 210 may be connectedto the central server 220 through the network 240.

The user device 210 may encompass a computer device, such as a laptopcomputer, a small personal computer, a tablet device, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a mobile computing device, a touch-screen device, orgenerally any device including or connecting to a processor and adisplay. The user device 210 may be portable so as to be separatelycarried by the user performing a locate operation. Alternatively, theuser device 210 may be integrated with or affixed to another moveableobject, such as a vehicle.

The central server 220 may include a computer device that may storeinformation received from or provided to the user device 210 and/or theimage server 230. The central server 220 may include storage capacityand/or optionally include networked access to one or more separatehardware components, such as images cache 235, to store cached imagesand the like.

The image server 230 may include a computer device that may store andprovide input images of geographic locations The image server 230 may beassociated with the same, or a different, party that maintains thecentral server 220. For example, the image server 230 may be associatedwith a party that provides input images for a fee.

The network 240 may include a local area network (LAN), a wide areanetwork (WAN), a telephone network, such as the Public SwitchedTelephone Network (PSTN) or a cellular network, an intranet, theInternet, a communications link, or a combination of networks. The userdevice 210, central server 220, and image server 230 may connect to thenetwork 240 via wired and/or wireless connections. The user device 210and central server 220 may communicate using any communication protocol.

Exemplary User Device Architecture

FIG. 3 is a diagram of exemplary components of the user device 210. Theuser device 210 may include a bus 310, a processing unit 320, a memory330, an input device 340, an output device 350 (e.g., a display device),a location identification unit 360, and a communication interface 370.In another implementation, the user device 210 may include more, fewer,or different components. For example, the location identification unit360 may not be included, or the location identification unit 360 may beincluded as a device located external to the user device 210, such as adevice worn or carried by a user of the user device 210.

The bus 310 may include a path that permits communication among thecomponents of the user device 210. The processing unit 320 may include aprocessor, a microprocessor, or processing logic that may interpret andexecute instructions. The memory 330 may include a random access memory(RAM), a read only memory (ROM), a memory card, a magnetic and/oroptical recording medium and its corresponding drive, or another type ofmemory device. Generally, the memory 330 may be sufficient to store andmanipulate input images, such as those stored in a local image cache335. In one implementation, the local image cache 335 may include one ormore input images of a dig area to be marked by a user. In anotherimplementation, the local image cache 335 may include a series of inputimages that correspond to the geographical region to which a particularuser is assigned. For example, local image cache 335 may include acollection of high-resolution images of a particular zip code or town.In still another implementation, the local image cache 335 may includean entire set of input images intended to be made available to multipleusers.

The input device 340 may include one or more mechanisms that permit auser to input information to the user device 210, such as a keyboard, akeypad, a touchpad, a mouse, a stylus, a touch screen, a camera, or thelike. Alternatively, or additionally, the input device 340 may include amicrophone that can capture a user's intent by capturing the user'saudible commands. Alternatively, or additionally, the input device 340may interact with a device that monitors a condition of the user, suchas eye movement, brain activity, or heart rate. The output device 350may include a mechanism that outputs information to the user, such as adisplay, a speaker, or the like. The condition information may be usedto assess the reliability of the user inputs that are used to generatethe marked-up image or other aspects of the electronic record. Forexample, if the monitored heart rate of the user is sufficiently high asto indicate that the user is under stress, the reliability of the userinputs may be assessed as poor.

The location identification unit 360 may include a device that candetermine its geographic location to a certain degree of accuracy, suchas a global positioning system (GPS) or a global navigation satellitesystem (GNSS) receiver. In another implementation, the locationidentification unit 360 may include a device that determines locationusing another technique, such as tower (e.g., cellular tower)triangularization. The location identification unit 360 may receivelocation tracking signals (e.g., GPS signals) and determine its locationbased on these signals. In one implementation, location identificationunit 360 may be capable of determining its location within approximatelythirty centimeters or less.

The communication interface 370 may include any transceiver-likemechanism that enables user device 210 to communicate with other devicesand/or systems. For example, the communication interface 370 may includemechanisms for communicating with another device or system via anetwork. For example, the communication interface 370 may enablecommunications between the user device 210 and the central server 220and/or image server 230 over network 240.

As will be described in detail below, user device 210 may performcertain operations relating to the documentation of locate operationsand/or the creation of an electronic manifest. User device 210 mayperform these operations in response to the processing unit 320executing software instructions contained in a computer-readable medium,such as the memory 330. A computer-readable medium may be defined as aphysical or logical memory device.

The software instructions may be read into the memory 330 from anothercomputer-readable medium, or from another device via the communicationinterface 370. The software instructions contained in the memory 330 maycause processing unit 320 to perform processes that will be describedlater. Alternatively, hardwired circuitry may be used in place of, or incombination with, software instructions to implement processes describedherein. Thus, implementations described herein are not limited to anyspecific combination of hardware circuitry and software.

Exemplary Central Server Architecture

FIG. 4 is a diagram of exemplary components of the central server 220.The central server 220 may include a bus 410, a processing unit 420, amemory 430, and a communication interface 440. In anotherimplementation, the central server 220 may include more, fewer, ordifferent components. For example, an input device and/or an outputdevice (not shown) may be included, as necessary.

The bus 410 may include a path that permits communication among thecomponents of the central server 220. The processing unit 420 mayinclude a processor, a microprocessor, or processing logic that mayinterpret and execute instructions. The memory 430 may include amagnetic and/or optical recording medium and its corresponding drive, aRAM, a ROM, a memory card, or another type of memory device suitable forhigh capacity data storage. Generally, the memory 430 may be sufficientto store input images of particular geographic locations, such as thosestored in a central image cache 435. In one implementation, the centralimage cache 435 may include a set of input images that correspond to thegeographical regions to which a group of users are assigned. In stillanother implementation, the central image cache 435 may include theentire set of input images intended to be made available to any of agroup of users. For example, central image cache 435 may include acollection of high-resolution input images of a particular county, stateor other geographic region. In another implementation, as shown in FIG.2, central image cache 435 may be replaced or supplemented with one ormore networked storage components, such as image cache 235.

The communication interface 440 may include any transceiver-likemechanism that enables the central server 220 to communicate with otherdevices and/or systems. For example, the communication interface 440 mayinclude mechanisms for communicating with another device or system via anetwork. For example, the communication interface 440 may enablecommunications between the central server 220 and the user device 210and/or image server 230 over network 240.

As will be described in detail below, the central server 220 may performcertain operations to facilitate the documentation of locate operationsand/or the creation of an electronic manifest. The central server 220may perform these operations in response to the processing unit 420executing software instructions contained in a computer-readable medium,such as the memory 430.

The software instructions may be read into the memory 430 from anothercomputer-readable medium, or from another device via the communicationinterface 440. The software instructions contained in the memory 430 maycause processing unit 420 to perform processes that will be describedlater. Alternatively, hardwired circuitry may be used in place of or incombination with software instructions to implement processes describedherein. Thus, implementations described herein are not limited to anyspecific combination of hardware circuitry and software.

Exemplary Routines

FIG. 5 is a diagram of exemplary software routines for the componentsshown in FIG. 2. The central server 220 may include an image retrievalroutine 520 and a central image cache routine 510. The user device 210may include a synchronize routine 530, a local image cache routine 540,an image display routine 550, a user input routine 560, and a ticketmanager routine 570. As discussed in more detail herein, the examples ofroutines associated with the central server 220 and the user device 210may be interchangeable between each hardware component. Furthermore,some or all of routines 510, 520, 530, 540, 550, 560, and 570 need notbe performed exclusively by any one hardware component.

Still referring to FIG. 5, the image server 230 may store a library ofinput images. Generally, input images such as aerial images may be ofsufficient resolution at an optimal elevation to be useful as a recordof the locate operation. The input images from the image server 230 mayinclude geocoding or other geographical identification metadata and maybe provided in any computer-readable format, such as JPEG fileinterchange format (JPEG), tagged image file format (TIFF), portabledocument format (PDF), graphics interchange format (GIF), bitmap (BMP),portable network graphics (PNG), Windows® metafile (WMF), and/or thelike. Also, input images from the image server 230 may include acombination of images or overlays, such as overlays of street names,regions, landmark descriptions, and/or other information about areasdisplayed in an image. The input images from the image server 230 may besupplied by a third-party provider if the coverage area of thethird-party image provider overlaps with the desired area of the user.

The central image cache routine 510 and the image retrieval routine 520of the central server 220 may include a variety of functionalities. Incertain implementations, the central image cache routine 510 may receiveinformation about specific tickets and parse tickets in order to discernlocation information. For example, a ticket may identify the dig area byan address of the property or by geographic coordinates. The ticketmight specify, for example, the address or description of the dig areato be marked, the day and/or time that the dig area is to be marked,and/or whether the user is to mark the dig area for telecommunications(e.g., telephone and/or cable television), power, gas, water, sewer, orsome other underground facility.

The central image cache routine 510 may also convert dig area locationinformation to latitude/longitude coordinates or other coordinates. Whenlocation information from a ticket is sufficiently precise to allow foridentification of corresponding imagery, the central image cache routine510 may calculate the image extent (which may be generally defined asthe bounding region of the dig area of interest), and update the ticketwith the calculated extent. In one implementation, the central imagecache routine 510 may determine image date, coordinates, and resolutionof each image that may be stored in the central image cache 435 or inanother location. In another implementation, when location informationfrom a ticket is imprecise (or “fuzzy”), the central image cache routine510 may mark the ticket to indicate that no corresponding image was ableto be retrieved based on the ticket information.

In another implementation, central image cache 510 may identify an imageto retrieve based on GPS coordinates of a GPS-enabled device associatedwith a user. For example, a user may arrive at an excavation site in aGPS-enabled vehicle and the GPS information from the vehicle may be usedto identify coordinates corresponding to an image to be retrieved. GPScoordinates may also be obtained from other GPS-enabled devices beingused by or in the vicinity of the user. As used herein a GPS-enableddevice may include any device or combination of devices capable ofinterfacing with a global navigation satellite system, geo-spatialpositioning system, or other location-identification system to determinea location. Examples of GPS-enabled devices may include a marking device(e.g., a paint wand) with an integrated GPS receiver; a locating device(e.g., a locating wand) with a GPS receiver; a wearable GPS-enableddevice; a vehicle-mounted GPS system; certain PDAs, computers, andcellular telephones; and stand-alone GPS-enabled systems.

In still another implementation, central image cache 510 may identifyone or more images to request based on a designated geographical areaassigned to a user. For example, a user may be assigned to work inseveral dig areas associated with a particular section of aneighborhood. The user may input coordinates associated with the entireselected section of the neighborhood, and central image cache 510 maythen retrieve images for those coordinates.

The image retrieval routine 520 catalogues and stores images from theimage server 230 to the central server 220. For example, images may bestored in the central image cache 435 in the memory 430 of the centralserver 220. In one implementation, the image retrieval routine 520 mayquery the central image cache 435 or other cache for an image associatedwith a particular dig area relating to a ticket of interest, anddetermine, based on (for example) the age and resolution of the cachedimage, whether the image in the central image cache 435 needs to beupdated from the image server 230.

In another implementation, the image retrieval routine 520 may interfacewith multiple image providers and image servers 230. The image retrievalroutine 520 may determine which image provider is the best source forthe image corresponding to a particular dig area relating to a ticket ofinterest based on algorithms that factor, for example, each imageprovider's geographical coverage, image resolution, cost, andavailability. Regarding geographical coverage, it will be beneficial toconfirm that the image provider's area of coverage includes the desiredextent (in other words, the entire geographical region of interest tothe user).

Regarding image resolution, available resolution may be measured inmeters (or centimeters, feet, or inches) per pixel. For example, oneprovider may offer thirty centimeters per pixel, while another offersfifteen centimeters or less per pixel, for the same coverage area. If animage is requested at a standard altitude, then the image retrievalroutine 520 may choose a pre-defined optimal scale (for example, thirtycentimeters per pixel for a rural area, but fifteen centimeters perpixel for an urban area) and determine which provider provides images atthe pre-defined optimal scale. Alternatively, if the image of interestis at a less granular scale (for example, a community or neighborhoodimage that allows the locator to pan around the image), then resolutionmay not be a significant factor.

Regarding cost, the image retrieval routine 520 may have access topricing information for a variety of image providers. The imageretrieval routine 520 may identify which provider has the lowest costfor the desired image. Cost analysis may be based on images desired foran individual ticket or the algorithm may account for a group of imagerequests, including volume incentives and/or penalties from each imageprovider

Regarding availability of image providers, the image retrieval routine520 may identify what providers are available and/or operational. Also,if an image provider has a regular latency profile (for example, if aprovider has a particular server that is busiest 3-5 PM Pacific time),then the image retrieval routine 520 may manage requests to be providedto another image provider or to a particular server of that imageprovider to efficiently load share the image retrieval.

When an image provider is selected, the image retrieval routine 520 maydownload the image from the selected image provider's server, which maybe an image server 230. The downloaded image may be stored locally, forexample, in the central image cache 435.

It should be understood that some of the routines and/or functionalitiesdescribed above with respect to the central image cache routine 510 andthe image retrieval routine 520 may be performed by one or both of theroutines 510 and 520 above, and the arrangement of functionalities arenot limited to the implementations disclosed herein.

The synchronize routine 530 for user device 210 may ensure that imagesalready stored and manipulated on the user device 210 correspond toimages stored in the central server 220. When a user performing a locateoperation identifies a ticket or dig area, the synchronize routine 530may check if an image exists in the central server 220 that matches theextent requested, and if the matching image is up-to-date in, forexample, the local image cache 335. The synchronize routine 530 may alsosynchronize images from the central server 220 cache and store copieslocally in the user device 210.

If the ticket has a valid extent (i.e., a recognizable boundary), thelocal image cache routine 540 may associate the ticket information withan image matching the extent. The local image cache routine 540 may loadthe image from the local image cache 335. If the ticket does not have avalid extent, the local image cache routine 540 may accept addressinformation that is entered by the user. Alternatively, the local imagecache routine 540 may read the local address information from the ticketor from a GPS-enabled device in communication with the user device 210so that address information may be pre-entered for the user to theextent possible. Address information may include, for example, a streetaddress, street name, city, state and/or zip code. If either none ormultiple stored addresses appear to be associated with particularaddress information, the local image cache routine 540 may display alist of best match addresses from which a user can select.

Once an image is loaded from the local cache 335, image display routine550 may provide a variety of view options for the user. For example, theimage display routine 550 may support zooming in and out of the image bychanging the image scale. Also, the image display routine 550 maysupport panning horizontally and vertically in the image. Furthermore,the image display routine 550 may support “roaming” outside theboundaries of the initial extent. Roaming generally occurs when the userzooms or pans, such that images beyond the boundaries of the storedimages may be required to be retrieved (using, for example, synchronizeroutine 530) from either the local image cache 335 or the central server220. The additional images retrieved from either the local image cache335 or the central server 220 may be displayed and stitched together todisplay a complete image.

The user input routine 560 allows the user to add information to theimage to create an electronic manifest. The user input routine 560 mayaccept user input from, for example, input device 340, and may supportthe addition of lines, freehand forms (or scribbling), shapes such ascircles and rectangles, shading, or other markings which denote theapproximate location of underground facilities which are present withinthe dig area. A drawing shape may generally be any kind of drawing shapeor mark. The user input routine 560 may further enable drawing ofunderground facility locate marks for telecommunications (e.g.,telephone and cable television), gas, power, water, sewer, and the like,so that each type of drawn locate mark is distinguishable from theother(s). The user input routine 560 may limit the display of suchfacilities by the type of work which is to be performed according to theinstructions included within the user's assigned ticket. Accordingly, agiven locate mark indicator, serving as a digital representation of aphysical locate mark applied to the dig area, may have an associatedattribute representing a type of underground facility corresponding tothe physical locate mark. Examples of different attributes for a locatemark indicator include, but are not limited to, color, line-type,symbol-type, shape, shade, etc. (e.g., a first locate mark indicator fora gas line may include a green dashed-line, a second locate markindicator for a fiber optic cable may include a red dotted-line, a thirdlocate mark indicator for an electric line may include one or more graydiamond shapes arranged along a path traversed in the input image by theburied electric line, etc.).

In addition to the marking of the underground facility locate marks onthe input image, user input routine 560 may also include offsets fromenvironmental landmarks that may be displayed on the image in, forexample, English or metric units. Environmental landmarks may also bemarked and/or highlighted on the input image. The user input routine 560may also accept positioning information from external sources, such as aGPS-enabled device. The user input routine 560 may further includefeatures to annotate the image with text and to revise user inputs by,for example deleting, dragging or pasting shapes. In one implementation,when the user zooms the image view in or out, user input (e.g., linesand/or shapes) that have been added to the original image may adhere tothe changing image scale and remain in the original user-inputlocations.

The electronic manifest, which is a compilation of one or more inputimages and user inputs, may be saved as an image file. In anotherimplementation, the user inputs may be saved in a mark-up format,including the geo-coordinates and underground facility type of eachinput.

In one implementation, the user device 210 may interface with a ticketmanagement program for coordinating multiple tickets. The ticket managerroutine 570 may facilitate such an interface. The ticket managementprogram for coordinating multiple tickets may reside on the centralserver 220, for example, or on a separate server that is accessible tothe user device 210. Generally, tickets may be stored on a centralserver and assigned to a user. When a user edits a ticket, the user mayalso have created an electronic manifest associated with the ticket. Theticket manager routine 570 may allow the user to synchronize the user'sticket cache with the company's central database and also synchronizethe images and user input. The ticket manager routine 570 may copyimages from the central server 220 to the user device 210 for newtickets, and will copy the user input from the user device 210 to thecentral server 220 for completed tickets. The ticket manager routine 570may interface with the routines described above to correlate a user'sassigned tickets with images for those tickets and download the imagesto the user device from the central server 220. The ticket managerroutine 570 may retrieve the corresponding ticket number from the ticketmanagement program when the user retrieves an image, or the ticketmanager routine 570 may retrieve the image corresponding to an enteredticket number.

FIG. 6 provides a flowchart 600 of an exemplary process for creating anelectronic manifest relating to a locate operation and the applicationof locate marks to a dig area to indicate a presence (or absence) of oneor more underground facilities. In one implementation, at least some ofthe blocks of FIG. 6 may be performed using user device 210 (FIG. 2). Inanother implementation, one or more of the blocks of FIG. 6 may bemanually performed or performed by another device, such as centralserver 220.

The process 600 may begin with a user being dispatched to a dig area tobe located, in response to a locate request ticket being generated for alocate operation. For example, the user might be given a ticket thatidentifies what underground facilities the user needs to locate at thedig area. The ticket might specify, for example, the address ordescription of the dig area to be located, the day and/or time that thedig area is to be located, and/or whether the user is to locate the digarea for telecommunications, power, gas, water, sewer, or otherunderground facility. Based on information in the ticket, or otherinformation about the dig area to be located, user device 210 in block610 may associate the property address with a stored input image of thedig area. Such association may include associating the address withgeographic location information, such as global positioning coordinatesfor the dig area extent (or boundary).

In one exemplary embodiment, the locate request ticket may be anelectronic locate request ticket that comprises a previously marked-upimage of a geographic area including the dig area, on which one or moredig area indicators, or “virtual white lines,” were placed (e.g., by anexcavator or a one-call center) to provide an indication of the digarea. In this manner, an electronic locate request ticket received by alocate company or locate technician may include both image data andnon-image data; for example, a locate request ticket may include amarked-up image with one or more dig area indicators, as well asassociated non-image information providing additional details of thelocate operation to be performed, as noted above. Further details oflocate request tickets including marked-up images with one or more digarea indicators are given in U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/366,853, filed Feb. 6, 2009, entitled “Virtual White Lines forIndicating Planned Excavation Sites on Electronic Images,” whichapplication is incorporated by reference herein.

In block 620, the stored input image associated with the dig area to belocated is retrieved from a cache of images and loaded into the userdevice 210. As previously described and discussed herein with respect toFIG. 5, the cache of images may reside within the user device 210, thecentral server 220, a separate image server, or another storage device.As discussed above, the input image may be represented by a wide varietyof source data that, when processed, facilitates display of the inputimage. In one exemplary implementation, the input image for thesearchable electronic record may be a previously marked-up image withone or more dig area indicators or virtual white lines; in one aspect,such an input image may be received as part of the locate request ticketspecifying the locate operation. In various implementations, it shouldbe appreciated that the input image may or may not be displayed, asdiscussed further below.

In block 630, the user may perform a locate operation to locate theunderground facilities present within the dig area and mark the locatedunderground facilities using a locating device and/or marking device, ora combined locating/marking device. For example, the user may use thelocating device to identify an underground facility at the dig area, andmay use the marking device to mark the underground facility with theappropriate marker (e.g., color paint, flag, or some other object). Incertain implementations, information regarding the approximategeographic location of the applied underground facility locate marks maybe gathered and stored electronically using a GPS-enabled device orother location identification device. The approximate geographiclocation of the underground facility locate marks may be determined, forexample, by identifying the current geographic location of theGPS-enabled device as the user performs the locating or marking. Inanother implementation, a user may use a triangularization technique todetermine the approximate geographic location of the undergroundfacility locate marks. In yet another implementation, a user maydetermine latitude and longitude coordinates or some other measurementof a geographic location.

In block 640, information about the approximate geographic location ofthe underground facility locate marks may be added to the input imagethat was retrieved previously in block 620. The information about theapproximate geographic location of the underground facility locate marksmay be input by the user using an input device, such as input device 340(FIG. 3) of user device 210, and added to the displayed input image asone or more locate mark indicators. In one exemplary implementation inwhich the input image is a previously marked-up image having one or moredig area indicators, this image may be further marked-up to add one ormore locate mark indicators that are displayed together with the one ormore dig area indicators. Additional aspects regarding information to beinput by the user are discussed in more detail herein with respect toFIG. 8.

Still referring to block 640, information about the approximategeographic location of the underground facility locate marks may also bereceived directly from a GPS-enabled device, such as the GPS-enabledlocating device or marking device used in block 630, and overlaid on theinput image. In one exemplary implementation, one or more locateindicator marks based on this information may be added to the inputimage automatically, and in some instances without any requirement todisplay the input image. Alternatively, the user may use of acombination of received GPS information and manual entries to create anelectronic manifest of the underground facility locate marks.

In block 645, as an optional step, information about offsets of theunderground facility locate marks from environmental landmarks may beadded to the input image. As with the input of the facility locations inblock 640, the location of the environmental landmarks may be input bythe user using an input device, such as input device 340 (FIG. 3) ofuser device 210, or automatically input from a GPS-enabled device. Theoffset information may be automatically calculated or input by the user.Offset information may also be obtained by identifying selectedenvironmental landmarks on the retrieved image and automaticallycalculating the distance from the selected environmental landmarks tothe underground facility locate marks overlaid on the image.

In block 650, as an optional step, information about the location of theunderground facility locate marks (e.g., the locate mark indicatorsadded to the input image) may be converted to GPS coordinates. In block660, the marked-up input image and other information (e.g., non-imageinformation) about the location operation may be stored in memory as asearchable electronic record or “electronic manifest,” which may beformatted as a single combined image (e.g., image data and non-imagemetadata) or as separate image data and non-image data that are linked.In exemplary implementations, the electronic manifest may be stored as,for example, a digital image or an interactive electronic map.Additionally or alternatively, in block 670, the geographicalcoordinates of the underground facility locate marks may be stored inmemory, such as memory 330 (FIG. 3), as a separate data set. The dataset may be compiled as, for example, a database of GPS coordinates. Inblock 680, the combined image and/or separate data set may optionally betransmitted to a central location, such as central server 220 (FIG. 2).

Thus, the marked-up image(s) and the non-image information may beformatted in a variety of manners in the searchable electronic record;for example, in one implementation the non-image information may beincluded as metadata associated with the marked-up image(s), while inother implementations the marked-up image(s) and the non-imageinformation may be formatted as separate data sets. These separate datasets may be transmitted and/or stored separately. In another aspect,whether transmitted/stored separately or together, the marked-upimage(s) and the non-image information may be linked together in somemanner as relating to a common electronic record.

In some locate operations, no underground facilities are determined tobe present in a designated dig area. Such locate operations aresometimes referred to as “clears.” In some implementations of theinventive concepts discussed herein, an input image may nonetheless beemployed to provide an electronic record of a “clear;” morespecifically, although no locate mark indicators may be added to aninput image (i.e., the step 640 may not be necessary because there areno physical locate marks to digitally represent), other non-imageinformation associated with the “clear” locate operation (e.g., atimestamp of when the locate operation was performed, an identifier fora technician or locate company performing the locate operation, a textaddress or other geographical identifier for the dig area, a locationstamp, etc.) may be associated with the input image (e.g., as a separatedata set linked to the input image, as metadata, a combined file ofimage and non-image data, etc.) to create a searchable electronic recordthat may be consulted to verify that the locate operation was indeedcompleted, even though no underground facilities were found.

FIG. 7 is a diagram of an exemplary data set that may be stored inmemory 330 and/or transmitted to server 220. As shown in FIG. 7, a dataset 700 may include a timestamp field 710, an underground facilityidentifier field 720, an underground facility location field 730, anenvironmental landmark identifier field 740, an environmental landmarklocation field 750, an other information field 760, a facilityowner/operator field 765, a marking method field 770, a property addressfield 780, a ticket number field 790, a location stamp field 715, and acertification field 725. In another implementation, the data set 700 mayinclude additional, fewer, or different fields.

Timestamp field 710 may include time data that identifies the day and/ortime that a locate operation was performed. This may coincide with atime at which an environmental landmark location was identified inconnection with the dig area. The time data in timestamp field 710 isshown in FIG. 7 as 9:43 a.m. on Oct. 20, 2005—although any type of dateand/or time code may be used. The information in timestamp field 710 maybe useful in establishing when a locate operation occurred.

The underground facility identifier field 720 may include an identifierthat uniquely identifies the type of underground facility that wasmarked. The identifier in underground facility identifier field 720 isshown in FIG. 7 as “power”—although any type of identifier may be used.Underground facility location field 730 may include geographic locationinformation corresponding to an underground facility locate mark. In oneimplementation, the geographic location information may include a set ofgeographic points along the marking path of the located undergroundfacility. The geographic location information in underground facilitylocation field 730 is shown in FIG. 7 as N38°51.40748, W077°20.27798; .. . ; N38°51.40784, W077°20.27865—although any type of geographiclocation information may be used. The information in undergroundfacility location field 730 may be useful in graphically presenting theunderground facility locate marks on a map, and/or to verify that thelocate operation was actually and accurately performed. Additionally, oralternatively, underground facility location field 730 may includegeographic location information for multiple underground facility locatemarks.

Environmental landmark identifier field 740 may include an identifierthat uniquely identifies the type of environmental landmark beingmarked. The identifier in environmental landmark identifier field 740 isshown in FIG. 7 as “curb”—although any type of identifier may be used.

Environmental landmark location field 750 may include geographiclocation information corresponding to the environmental landmarkidentified in environmental landmark identifier field 740. Thegeographic location information in environmental landmark location field750 is shown in FIG. 7 as N38°51.40756, W077°20.27805; . . . ;N38°51.40773, W077°20.27858—although any type of geographic locationinformation may be used.

Other information field 760 may store other data that may be useful,including user notes, such as offset or distance information thatidentifies a distance between one or more environmental landmarks andone or more underground facility locate marks. Other information field760 is shown in FIG. 7 as including “1.2 meters between curb and powerline”—although any other data may be used. Additionally and/oralternatively, other information field 760 may include audio/voice data,transcribed voice-recognition data, or the like to incorporate usernotes.

The underground facility owner field 765 may include the name of theowner/operator of the underground facility that has been marked duringthe locate operation. For example, in FIG. 7, the underground facilityowner field 765 is shown as “ABC Corp.” Because multiple undergroundfacilities may be marked during a single locate operation, it may bebeneficial to associate each marked underground facility with aparticular owner/operator. Alternatively, this field may include one ormore identifiers for the locate company performing the locate operation,or an additional field may be added to the data set 700 for thispurpose.

Marking method field 770 may indicate the type of marking used at thedig area to indicate the location of an underground facility. Forexample, in FIG. 7, marking method field 770 is shown indicating redpaint. Property address field 780 may be the property address associatedwith the marking recorded in the data set 700. The property addressfield 780 may include, for example, the street address and zip code ofthe property. Other information in field 780 may include city, state,and/or county identifiers. The ticket number field 790 may include theticket number associated with the locate operation, such as ticket“1234567” shown in FIG. 7.

Location stamp field 715 may include a location stamp indicating alocation where the locate operation was performed (e.g., the dig area).The location stamp may optionally be generated at the same time astimestamp 710, and the information underlying these stamps may be from asame source or otherwise correlated, such that the location stampreflects the location of the locate technician, user device, orassociated locate and/or marking device when the timestamp 710 isgenerated. The location stamp may comprise, for example, locationcoordinates (as shown in FIG. 7), a city name or designation, a statename or designation, a county name or designation, and/or an address.Generally, the location stamp identifies the presence and location of alocate technician in connection with the locate operation.

According to one exemplary implementation, location stamp data isgenerated by the user device (e.g., by location identification unit 360)in response to an action associated with a locate operation (e.g., amarking being made on the electronic manifest, creation of a newelectronic manifest, completion or certification of an electronicmanifest). According to another exemplary implementation, location stampdata is generated by a GPS-enabled device associated with a locatetechnician dispatched to perform a locate operation (e.g., a GPS-enableddevice in the vehicle and/or on the person of the locate technician), aGPS-enabled locate and/or marking device operated by the technicianduring the locate operation, or another locate and/or marking devicecapable of determining its own location. The location stamp data maythen be transmitted from the GPS-enabled device or locate and/or markingdevice to the user device alone or in association with other data (e.g.marking data or locate data). The transmission may occur, for example,in response to a request by the user device, a request by the user, orsome triggering action. The location stamp data may be recorded to thedata set automatically (e.g., without user intervention) or in responseto user input.

It should be appreciated that both the timestamp field 710 and locationstamp field 715 may optionally include a plurality of timestamps andlocation stamps. For example, each of a plurality of actions (e.g.,markings on the electronic manifest, actuations of the locate and/ormarking device) may be associated with a particular time stamp and/orlocation stamp recorded in fields 710 and 715 so that the time andlocation of various actions associated with the locate operation cansubsequently be determined. The actions may cause the time stamp and/orlocation stamp to automatically be logged. Further, the timestamp field710 and/or location stamp field 715 may optionally be “read only”fields. Prohibiting changes to these fields (e.g., by the locatetechnician) may preserve the integrity of the data therein so that itcan be reliably used for verification of the locate operation.

Certification field 725 may comprise a certification of the data in dataset 700, e.g., by the locate technician and/or another reviewer, such asa supervisor or other authorized representative of the locate company.Such a certification may comprise a signature, initials, an electronicstamp, or some other indication that the information in the data set 700is “certified” (e.g., has been reviewed and/or is correct/approved).

In one implementation, the user device 210 may store multiple data setscorresponding to multiple underground facilities identified at aparticular dig area. User device 210 may provide the data sets to server220 in a batch—such as a batch corresponding to the group of undergroundfacilities documented within the electronic manifest—or individually.The batch may be grouped together with other information generallyrelating to the locate operation, such as the name of the companyresponsible for performing the locate operation, the name of the locatetechnician, and the like. Additionally, or alternatively, the otherinformation generally relating to the locate operation may be includedin each data set.

FIG. 8 is an exemplary diagram of a user interface 800 that may bepresented via the user device 210. The user interface may be presentedon a screen 800 that may be the screen of the user device 210, asdescribed herein with respect to FIG. 2. The screen 800 may display avariety of graphical elements, including but not limited to: a mapcontrol 810, an address search panel 820, a locator palette 830, anavigation palette 840, a status bar 850, a menu bar 860, a service grid870, a scale bar 880, and the input image of the geographic areaincluding the dig area. As discussed above, the displayed input imagemay include one or more dig area indicators or virtual white lines 890to identify the dig area in the displayed image.

Map control 810 generally may be the surface, or canvas, whereimages—such as an exemplary image 802—are displayed. The user may drawor input shapes “on top of” this surface using for example, the inputdevice 340 of FIG. 3 to identify underground facility locate marklocations. FIG. 8 shows a stylus 804 as an exemplary form of inputdevice 340.

The address search panel 820 may be used to identify imagescorresponding to a desired address. Panel 820 may, for example, accept apartial or complete address and allow the user to search for matches. Ifan excessive number of addresses match the search, then the size of theresult set may be constrained. Address search results may be displayedwhich match the address search. The listed matches may serve as aspringboard for displaying the image desired by the user. For example,when the user taps with a stylus 804 on an address match, the userdevice 210 may load the image corresponding to the selected address. Asdescribed above, this image may be stored locally on user device 210 orretrieved from central server 220.

Palettes may be generally defined as a toolbar or toolbars containingsoft buttons or other controls that are grouped in some logical order.The buttons on a palette may duplicate the commands available on themenu bar 860. The locator palette 830 may allow the user to select thetype of underground facility locate marks (e.g., electric, gas, water,sewer, telecommunications, etc.) the user will draw on the image 802.The locator palette 830 may also include a choice of various shapes orshades, such as freestyle, line, circle, rectangle, or other polygonthat the user may select to draw on the image 802. In oneimplementation, the locator palette 830 may present a list of potentialenvironmental landmark identifiers. In this case, the user may select anenvironmental landmark identifier from the list to overlay at theappropriate place on the input image 802.

The locator palette 830 may also include an offset tool that allows theuser to mark the distance between, for example, an environmentallandmark identifier and a drawn underground facility locate mark. Oncethe user has chosen the type of shape they wish to draw (freestyle,line, polygon, shading etc.) the application may track the user'smovements to define the layout and location of the shape. The shape maybe completed when the user terminates the drawing (for example, bylifting the stylus 804 or releasing the mouse button). A text label orother indicator may be added to the shape automatically based on thetype of underground facility locate mark or environmental landmarkselected (e.g., “electric” or “curb”) or may be manually added.

The navigation palette 840 may allow the user to zoom or pan the image802. For example, the navigation palette 840 may include selections tozoom in, zoom out, or zoom to a selected section of the image. Thenavigation palette 840 may also include pan command buttons to pan left,pan right, pan up or pan down. Other selections that may be available onthe navigation palette include buttons to alter the transparency ofeither the image 802 or the underground facility locate marks.

The status bar 850 may display information about the map control, suchas the coordinates of the subject area, the coordinates of a cursor orstylus in relation to the image 802, and the image scale. The menu bar860 may include an operating system element that allows a user to accesscommands, such as exiting the application, selecting what palettes orpanels to display, or accessing online help.

The service grid 870 is shown as an exemplary “floating” window to showhow the user interface for the screen 800 may operate in a typicaloperating system environment. The service grid 870 or any of the othergraphical elements described in relation to screen 800 may be in a fixedor floating orientation. As underground facility locate marks are drawnon the map control 810, they may appear in a list in the service grid870. Thus, the user may edit the properties of an underground facilityshape using the service grid 870, as well as by selecting the shape inthe map control 810. The service grid may include properties, such asthe type, length, circumference, and material of the marked undergroundfacility.

FIG. 9 shows an exemplary searchable electronic record or electronicmanifest 900 that may be generated according to methods and apparatusdescribed herein. The electronic manifest comprises image data orinformation including a marked-up image 905. In the example of FIG. 9,the marked-up image 905 includes digital representations 910 (locatemark indicators) of physical locate marks, offset indicia 915, andvirtual white lines 920 (dig area indicators). In addition, theelectronic manifest 900 comprises non-image information relating to thelocate operation, derived from one or more of the fields of theexemplary data set 700 illustrated in FIG. 7. In the example of FIG. 9,the displayed elements of such a data set constituting non-imageinformation include (but are not limited to) a ticket number 925 for thelocate operation (from the ticket number field 790), an identifier 930of the locate technician (e.g., from the field 765 or another similarfield, which may indicate facility owner/operator, or locatecompany/technician), a time and date stamp 935 indicating when theelectronic manifest was created (from the timestamp filed 710), alocation stamp 940 indicating where the electronic manifest was created(from the location stamp field 715), a completed checklist 945 ofmarkings used in the locate operation (from the marking method field770), and a locate technician signature 950 certifying that theinformation of the electronic manifest is correct (from thecertification field 725). The marked-up image and additional informationrelating to the locate operation may be stored as a single file (e.g., acombined image or image and text file), in associated files, orseparately. It should be appreciated that the electronic manifest 900shown FIG. 9 is merely exemplary, and that an electronic manifest asdescribed herein may alternatively include other combinations of theinformation described herein and may be formatted in different manners.

An electronic manifest of underground facility locate marks may serveseveral purposes. For example, the electronic manifest may providesignificant improvements in accuracy and save time for the locatetechnician. Manual sketching is time consuming and imprecise. Forexample, with manual sketching, the general geographic features of thedig area location, i.e. roads, sidewalks, landscaping, buildings, andother landmarks, must be reproduced by the locate technician. Creationof an electronic manifest that includes drafting on retrieved inputimages may improve accuracy and eliminate drafting of these generalgeographic features.

Additionally, or alternatively, an electronic manifest of undergroundfacility locate marks may provide a variety of data formats from asingle user event. For example, electronic drafting creates data aboutthe electronic manifest which can be reviewed without viewing the image.The type of marked underground facilities can be determined based uponthe existence of different colors, different line types (e.g., solid,dotted or dashed), or other coding schema. Length of marks for eachunderground facility can be approximated, and the existence and lengthof offsets detected. If available, the location of the marks can becross-checked to the user's description or depiction of the area to bemarked or excavated.

Additionally, or alternatively, an electronic manifest of undergroundfacility locate marks may provide for easier dissemination andrecord-keeping. Electronic manifests can be associated with individualtickets and recalled electronically, avoiding the uncertainties anderrors associated with manual filing systems. Furthermore, electronicmanifests can be interrogated to ensure that the information recorded onthe electronic manifest accurately comports with billing data or otherinformation regarding the locate operation(s) performed.

Additionally, or alternatively, information from the electronic manifestregarding the distance between environmental landmarks and locatedunderground facility locate marks may be used to verify subsequentlocate operations or the accuracy of the electronic manifest. Forexample, if the information identifies an underground facility asrunning parallel to the curb at a distance of three meters, thatinformation may be used to assess the accuracy or consistency of asubsequent locate operation at the same dig area or, upon inspection,the accuracy of the electronic manifest.

Additionally, or alternatively, information from the electronic manifestregarding the number and types of underground facilities may be used toestimate the scope of a subsequent locate operation to be performed at adig area. For example, a large number of underground facilities may beindicative of an extensive (i.e., time-consuming) locate operation.

Additionally, or alternatively, information from the electronic manifestmay be used by a quality control supervisor and/or damage inspector toverify the accuracy of the underground facility locate marks. Forexample, if the user who performed a locate operation indicated that anunderground facility runs parallel to a driveway at a distance of twometers, then the quality control supervisor or damage inspector may usethis information to verify whether the marks properly reflected theactual location of the underground facilities present within the digarea. Also information from the electronic manifest may be used to traina user and/or to perform quality control relating to a user's work. Theelectronic manifest can be modified, e.g., after retrieval from thememory of a central server or the user device itself, to includeindication of that the manifest has been reviewed and/or approved (e.g.,by quality control supervisor). Such an indication may comprise, forexample, the signature of the reviewer.

Since it is possible for a locate technician to create a manifestwithout ever visiting the dig area, it may be desirable to verify that alocate operation was actually performed in the dig area, as discussedherein. According to one exemplary implementation, this may beaccomplished by verifying that location information logged by a userdevice comports with a location where the locate operation was to beperformed (e.g., the dig area) and/or that time information logged by auser device comports with a time frame for performing the locateoperation (e.g., within 48 hours of the ticket being issued). The timeand/or location information may be generated by the user device andautomatically logged to the electronic manifest. Alternatively, the timeand/or location information may be generated by the locate and/ormarking device, transmitted to the user device, and automatically loggedto the electronic manifest. The time information may comprise, forexample, a time stamp generated by a clock internal to the user deviceor the locate and/or marking device. Such a time stamp may comprise adate and/or time indicative of when the locate operation was performed.The location information may comprise, for example, GPS coordinates orGPS-derived data such as a city, state, county, and/or addressindicative of where the locate operation was performed. The time and/orlocation information may be stored and/or transmitted as part of themarked-up image or associated data (e.g., data set 700).

Data or non-image information associated with performing the locateoperation and/or creating the electronic manifest, such as time spentperforming certain actions or actuations of an input or marking device,can optionally be tracked and stored by the user device. The data can beused, for example, to determine the cost of a locate operation, verifythe performance of a locate operation, determine the location ofphysical locate marks, and/or train the locate technician. Exemplarydata that may be stored includes: a start time and/or date of the locateoperation; an end time and/or date of the locate operation; a total timefor marking each utility (e.g., electric, gas, cable, phone, water,recreational water, and sewer); an activity count (e.g., actuations of amarking device) associated with marking each utility; a total time oractivity count for other actions (e.g., marking the property line, tiedown, sketching, drawing, selecting, dragging, resizing, or performingan undo, clear or zoom); time and data associated with menu clicks, lineclicks, and point clicks; image request information and informationidentifying the requested image; data associated with drawing lines(e.g., utility type, begin location, end location, width, andcharacteristic (e.g., dashed or solid)); data associated with drawingpoints (e.g., utility type, location, width, characteristic (e.g.,symbol type)); data associated with text boxes (e.g., location,characteristic (e.g., color), and text); drawing data (e.g., start andend time, ticket number, user name and/or identification, and IPaddress); and location data (e.g., image centroid, ticket location,start location, and end location).

It should be appreciated that the user device described herein is merelyexemplary and that other implementations of user device are possible.For example, the user device and/or certain components thereof may beintegrated within a locate and/or marking device. In this case, the userdevice may share a display with that of the locate and/or marking deviceand process and store data within the locate and/or marking device.

Conclusion

Aspects of the invention as described herein enable retrieving from adatabase the appropriate input image of a specific geographic location,or dig area, where locate operations are to be conducted for undergroundfacilities. The user may draft, on the retrieved image, a variety offeatures, including but not limited to (1) the type of undergroundfacilities marked using an appropriate color or other coding schema, (2)the number of underground facilities marked within the dig area, (3) theapproximate geographic location of each set of underground facilitylocate marks, and (4) the appropriate environmental landmark offsets foreach set of underground facility locate marks. The combination of theretrieved image and additional information drafted by the user may besaved in a variety of formats as an electronic manifest. Otherinformation regarding the specific geographic location of the locatemarks and environmental landmarks may be incorporated into theelectronic manifest using direct input from GPS-enabled positioningtools and the like.

The foregoing description is not intended to be exhaustive or to limitthe description to the precise form disclosed. Modifications andvariations are possible in light of the above disclosure or may beacquired from practice of the invention.

For example, certain information was described as being presentedvisually on a screen of user device 210. In other implementations, thisinformation may be audibly provided to the user. Also, particularinformation was described as being input via an input device 340, suchas a screen of user device 210. In other implementations, thisinformation may be provided in other ways, such as by receiving inputsvia input keys and/or buttons, by recognizing speech of the user, or bymonitoring a condition of the user. More particularly, the input device340 may be capable of capturing signals that reflect a user's intent.For example, the input device 340 may include a microphone that cancapture a user's intent by capturing the user's audible commands.Alternatively, the input device 340 may interact with a device thatmonitors a condition of the user, such as eye movement, brain activity,or heart rate.

As another example, certain components, such as user device 210 andcentral server 220 were described as using an image cache. In otherimplementations, user device 210 and/or central server 220 maycommunicate with an image server (such as imager server 230) inreal-time, so that no image cache may be required. In still otherimplementations, the user device 210 may, for example, communicate inreal time with the central server 220.

As another example, it should be noted that reference to a GPS-enableddevice is not limited to GPS systems only, and that any globalnavigation satellite system or other system that provides geo-spatialpositioning may be used in implementations of the invention.

Also, while a series of blocks has been described with regard to FIG. 6,the order of the blocks may be modified in other implementations.Further, non-dependent blocks may be performed in parallel.

It will be apparent that aspects, as described above, may be implementedin many different forms of software, firmware, and hardware in theimplementations illustrated in the figures. The actual software code orspecialized control hardware used to implement these aspects is notlimiting of the description provided herein. Thus, the operation andbehavior of the aspects were described without reference to the specificsoftware code—it being understood that software and control hardware canbe designed to implement the aspects based on the description herein.

While various inventive embodiments have been described and illustratedherein, those of ordinary skill in the art will readily envision avariety of other means and/or structures for performing the functionand/or obtaining the results and/or one or more of the advantagesdescribed herein, and each of such variations and/or modifications isdeemed to be within the scope of the inventive embodiments describedherein. More generally, those skilled in the art will readily appreciatethat all parameters, dimensions, materials, and configurations describedherein are meant to be exemplary and that the actual parameters,dimensions, materials, and/or configurations will depend upon thespecific application or applications for which the inventive teachingsis/are used. Those skilled in the art will recognize, or be able toascertain using no more than routine experimentation, many equivalentsto the specific inventive embodiments described herein. It is,therefore, to be understood that the foregoing embodiments are presentedby way of example only and that, within the scope of the appended claimsand equivalents thereto, inventive embodiments may be practicedotherwise than as specifically described and claimed. Inventiveembodiments of the present disclosure are directed to each individualfeature, system, article, material, kit, and/or method described herein.In addition, any combination of two or more such features, systems,articles, materials, kits, and/or methods, if such features, systems,articles, materials, kits, and/or methods are not mutually inconsistent,is included within the inventive scope of the present disclosure.

All definitions, as defined and used herein, should be understood tocontrol over dictionary definitions, definitions in documentsincorporated by reference, and/or ordinary meanings of the definedterms.

The indefinite articles “a” and “an,” as used herein in thespecification and in the claims, unless clearly indicated to thecontrary, should be understood to mean “at least one.”

The phrase “and/or,” as used herein in the specification and in theclaims, should be understood to mean “either or both” of the elements soconjoined, i.e., elements that are conjunctively present in some casesand disjunctively present in other cases. Multiple elements listed with“and/or” should be construed in the same fashion, i.e., “one or more” ofthe elements so conjoined. Other elements may optionally be presentother than the elements specifically identified by the “and/or” clause,whether related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified.Thus, as a non-limiting example, a reference to “A and/or B”, when usedin conjunction with open-ended language such as “comprising” can refer,in one embodiment, to A only (optionally including elements other thanB); in another embodiment, to B only (optionally including elementsother than A); in yet another embodiment, to both A and B (optionallyincluding other elements); etc.

As used herein in the specification and in the claims, “or” should beunderstood to have the same meaning as “and/or” as defined above. Forexample, when separating items in a list, “or” or “and/or” shall beinterpreted as being inclusive, i.e., the inclusion of at least one, butalso including more than one, of a number or list of elements, and,optionally, additional unlisted items. Only terms clearly indicated tothe contrary, such as “only one of” or “exactly one of,” or, when usedin the claims, “consisting of,” will refer to the inclusion of exactlyone element of a number or list of elements. In general, the term “or”as used herein shall only be interpreted as indicating exclusivealternatives (i.e. “one or the other but not both”) when preceded byterms of exclusivity, such as “either,” “one of,” “only one of,” or“exactly one of” “Consisting essentially of,” when used in the claims,shall have its ordinary meaning as used in the field of patent law.

As used herein in the specification and in the claims, the phrase “atleast one,” in reference to a list of one or more elements, should beunderstood to mean at least one element selected from any one or more ofthe elements in the list of elements, but not necessarily including atleast one of each and every element specifically listed within the listof elements and not excluding any combinations of elements in the listof elements. This definition also allows that elements may optionally bepresent other than the elements specifically identified within the listof elements to which the phrase “at least one” refers, whether relatedor unrelated to those elements specifically identified. Thus, as anon-limiting example, “at least one of A and B” (or, equivalently, “atleast one of A or B,” or, equivalently “at least one of A and/or B”) canrefer, in one embodiment, to at least one, optionally including morethan one, A, with no B present (and optionally including elements otherthan B); in another embodiment, to at least one, optionally includingmore than one, B, with no A present (and optionally including elementsother than A); in yet another embodiment, to at least one, optionallyincluding more than one, A, and at least one, optionally including morethan one, B (and optionally including other elements); etc.

It should also be understood that, unless clearly indicated to thecontrary, in any methods claimed herein that include more than one stepor act, the order of the steps or acts of the method is not necessarilylimited to the order in which the steps or acts of the method arerecited.

In the claims, as well as in the specification above, all transitionalphrases such as “comprising,” “including,” “carrying,” “having,”“containing,” “involving,” “holding,” “composed of,” and the like are tobe understood to be open-ended, i.e., to mean including but not limitedto. Only the transitional phrases “consisting of” and “consistingessentially of” shall be closed or semi-closed transitional phrases,respectively, as set forth in the United States Patent Office Manual ofPatent Examining Procedures, Section 2111.03.

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising: A) performing a locate operation of at leastone underground facility in a dig area that is planned to be excavatedor disturbed during excavation activities by applying to ground,pavement or other surface in the dig area at least one physical coloredmarker to indicate a presence or an absence of the at least oneunderground facility below the ground, pavement or other surface in thedig area; adding via a processing unit, to at least one digital image ofa geographic area comprising the dig area, at least one electronicmarker corresponding to the at least one physical colored marker appliedto the ground, pavement or other surface in the dig area so as togenerate an electronic record of the locate operation performed in A);and C) electronically transmitting and/or electronically storinginformation relating to the electronic record of the locate operationperformed in A).
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein in A): a color of theat least one physical colored marker applied to the ground, pavement orother surface in the dig area indicates a type of the at least oneunderground facility; and the at least one physical colored markerapplied to the ground, pavement or other surface in the dig areaincludes at least one of: non-white paint; and at least one non-whiteflag.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein in A), the at least one physicalcolored marker includes a plurality of physical colored markers, andwherein A) further comprises: applying to the ground, pavement or othersurface in the dig area the plurality of physical colored markers so asto form a marking pattern that indicates the presence or the absence ofthe at least one underground facility.
 4. The method of claim 3, whereinthe marking pattern includes a sequence of dots or dashes.
 5. The methodof claim 4, wherein in B), the at least one electronic marker includes acontinuous line added to the at least one digital image andcorresponding to at least some of the sequence of dots or dashes of themarking pattern on the ground, pavement or other surface.
 6. The methodof claim 4, wherein in B), the at least one electronic marker includes aplurality of electronic markers added to the at least one digital imageto electronically represent at least some of the sequence of dots ordashes of the marking pattern on the ground, pavement or other surface.7. The method of claim 1, wherein B) comprises: B1) electronicallyreceiving ticket infomation derived from a locate request ticket, thelocate request ticket specifying the dig area and requesting performanceof the locate operation; and B2) selecting the at least one digitalimage based at least in part on the ticket information received in B1).8. The method of claim 1, wherein in B), the processing unit comprises alocation identification unit to provide a geographic location of theprocessing unit, and wherein B) further comprises: selecting the atleast one digital image based at least in part on the geographiclocation of the processing unit provided by the location identificationunit.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein B) further comprises: adding tothe at least one digital image offset information relating to a distancebetween the at least one physical colored marker and at least oneenvironmental landmark in the dig area, wherein the electronic recordincludes the offset information.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein B)further comprises: adding to the at least one digital image textinformation relating to the locate operation so as to annotate the atleast one digital image, wherein the electronic record includes the textinformation.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one attributeof the at least one electronic marker represents at least one aspect ofthe at least one underground facility.
 12. The method of claim 11,wherein: the at least one attribute of the at least one electronicmarker includes at least one of a color, a line-type, a symbol-type, ashape, and a shade.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein: the at leastone aspect of the at least one underground facility includes a type ofthe at least one underground facility.
 14. The method of claim 1,wherein B) comprises: adding the at least one electronic marker to theat least one digital image via a user input device.
 15. The method ofclaim 14, wherein the user input device comprises at least one of akeyboard, a keypad, a touchpad, a mouse, a stylus, a touch screen, and acamera.
 16. The method of claim 14, wherein prior to B), the methodcomprises: displaying a palette on a display device; and selecting atype of the at least one underground facility from the palette, andwherein B) comprises: adding the at least one electronic marker to theat least one digital image based at least in part on the type of the atleast one underground facility selected from the palette.
 17. The methodof claim 1, wherein B) comprises: B1) electronically receivinggeographic information for a location of the at least one physicalcolored marker applied to the ground, pavement or other surface in thedig area; and B2) adding the at least one electronic marker to the atleast one digital image based at least in part on the geographicinformation received in B1).
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein: A)comprises using a GPS-enabled marking device to apply the at least onephysical colored marker to the ground, pavement or other surface in thedig area; and B1) comprises electronically receiving the geographicinformation for the location of the at least one physical colored markerfrom the GPS-enabled marking device used to perform the locate operationin A).
 19. The method of claim 1, wherein in C), the informationrelating to the electronic record includes at least one time-stampindicative of a date and/or a time at which the locate operation isperformed in A).
 20. The method of claim 1, further comprisingconverting the at least one electronic marker to a set of geographiccoordinates, wherein in C), the information relating to the electronicrecord includes the set of geographic coordinates.
 21. Acomputer-readable storage device encoded with instructions that, whenexecuted by at least one processor, perform a method comprising: A)documenting a performance of a locate operation of at least oneunderground facility in a dig area that is planned to be excavated ordisturbed during excavation activities, the locate operation comprisingapplying to ground, pavement or other surface in the dig area at leastone physical colored marker to indicate a presence or an absence of theat least one underground facility below the ground, pavement or othersurface in the dig area, wherein A) comprises: B) adding, to at leastone digital image of a geographic area comprising the dig area, at leastone electronic marker corresponding to the at least one physical coloredmarker applied to the ground, pavement or other surface in the dig areaso as to generate an electronic record of the locate operation; and C)electronically transmitting and/or electronically storing informationrelating to the electronic record.
 22. The computer-readable storagedevice of claim 21, wherein: in A), the at least one physical coloredmarker includes a plurality of physical colored markers; the locateoperation further comprises applying to the ground, pavement or othersurface in the dig area the plurality of physical colored markers so asto form a marking pattern that indicates the presence or the absence ofthe at least one underground facility; the marking pattern includes asequence of dots or dashes, and in B), the at least one electronicmarker includes a continuous line added to the at least one digitalimage and corresponding to at least some of the sequence of dots ordashes of the marking pattern on the ground, pavement or other surface.23. The computer-readable storage device of claim 21, wherein: in A),the at least one physical colored marker includes a plurality ofphysical colored markers; the locate operation further comprisesapplying to the ground, pavement or other surface in the dig area theplurality of physical colored markers so as to form a marking patternthat indicates the presence or the absence of the at least oneunderground facility; the marking pattern includes a sequence of dots ordashes, and in B), the at least one electronic marker includes aplurality of electronic markers added to the at least one digital imageto electronically represent at least some of the sequence of dots ordashes of the marking pattern on the ground, pavement or other surface.24. The computer-readable storage device of claim 21, wherein in B) themethod comprises: B1) electronically receiving ticket informationderived from a locate request ticket, the locate request ticketspecifying the dig area and requesting performance of the locateoperation; and B2) selecting the at least one digital image based atleast in part on the ticket information received in B1).
 25. Thecomputer-readable storage device of claim 21, wherein in B) the methodcomprises selecting the at least one digital image based at least inpart on a geographic location provided by a location identificationunit.
 26. The computer-readable storage device of claim 21, wherein inB) the method further comprises: adding to the at least one digitalimage offset information relating to a distance between the at least onephysical colored marker and at least one environmental landmark in thedig area, wherein the electronic record includes the offset information.27. The computer-readable storage device of claim 21, wherein in B) themethod further comprises: adding to the at least one digital image textinformation relating to the locate operation so as to annotate the atleast one digital image, wherein the electronic record includes the textinformation.
 28. The computer-readable storage device of claim 21,wherein at least one attribute of the at least one electronic markerrepresents at least one aspect of the at least one underground facility.29. The computer-readable storage device of claim 28, wherein: the atleast one attribute of the at least one electronic marker includes atleast one of a color, a line-type, a symbol-type, a shape, and a shade30. The computer-readable storage device of claim 29, wherein: the atleast one aspect of the at least one underground facility includes atype of the at least one underground facility.
 31. The computer-readablestorage device of claim 21, wherein in B) the method comprises: addingthe at least one electronic marker to the at least one digital image viaa user input device.
 32. The computer-readable storage device of claim31, wherein the user input device comprises at least one of a keyboard,a keypad, a touchpad, a mouse, a stylus, a touch screen, and a camera.33. The computer-readable storage device of claim 31, wherein prior toB), the method comprises: displaying a palette on a display device; andselecting a type of the at least one underground facility from thepalette, and wherein B) comprises: adding the at least one electronicmarker to the at least one digital image based at least in part on thetype of the at least one underground facility selected from the palette.34. The computer-readable storage device of claim 21, wherein in B) themethod comprises: B1) electronically receiving geographic informationfor a location of the at least one physical colored marker applied tothe ground, pavement or other surface in the dig area; and B2) addingthe at least one electronic marker to the at least one digital imagebased at least in part on the geographic information received in B1).35. The computer-readable storage device of claim 34, wherein: thelocate operation comprises using a GPS-enabled marking device to applythe at least one physical colored marker to the ground, pavement orother surface in the dig area; and B1) comprises electronicallyreceiving the geographic information for the location of the at leastone physical colored marker from the GPS-enabled marking device used toperform the locate operation.
 36. The computer-readable storage deviceof claim 21, wherein in C), the information relating to the electronicrecord includes at least one time-stamp indicative of a date and/or atime at which the locate operation is performed.
 37. Thecomputer-readable storage device of claim 21, wherein the method furthercomprises converting the at least one electronic marker to a set ofgeographic coordinates, and wherein in C), the information relating tothe electronic record includes the set of geographic coordinates.
 38. Anapparatus comprising: a communication interface; a memory to storeprocessor-executable instructions; and a processing unit communicativelycoupled to the communication interface and the memory, wherein uponexecution of the processor-executable instructions by the processingunit, the processing unit: A) documents a performance of a locateoperation of at least one underground facility in a dig area that isplanned to be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities, thelocate operation comprising applying to ground, pavement or othersurface in the dig area at least one physical colored marker to indicatea presence or an absence of the at least one underground facility belowthe ground, pavement or other surface in the dig area, wherein in A),the processing unit: B) adds, to at least one digital image of ageographic area comprising the dig area, at least one electronic markercorresponding to the at least one physical colored marker applied to theground, pavement or other surface in the dig area so as to generate anelectronic record of the locate operation; and C) electronicallytransmits and/or electronically stores information relating to theelectronic record.
 39. The apparatus of claim 38, wherein in A), the atleast one physical colored marker includes a plurality of physicalcolored markers, and wherein the locate operation comprises applying tothe ground, pavement or other surface in the dig area the plurality ofphysical colored markers so as to form a marking pattern that indicatesthe presence or the absence of the at least one underground facility;the marking pattern includes a sequence of dots or dashes; and in B),the at least one electronic marker includes a continuous colored lineadded to the displayed digital image and corresponding to at least someof the sequence of dots or dashes of the marking pattern on the ground,pavement or other surface.
 40. The apparatus of claim 38, wherein in A),the at least one physical colored marker includes a plurality ofphysical colored markers, and wherein the locate operation comprisesapplying to the ground, pavement or other surface in the dig area theplurality of physical colored markers so as to form a marking patternthat indicates the presence or the absence of the at least oneunderground facility; the marking pattern includes a sequence of dots ordashes; and in B), the at least one electronic marker includes aplurality of electronic markers added to the displayed digital image toelectronically represent at least some of the sequence of dots or dashesof the marking pattern on the ground, pavement or other surface.
 41. Theapparatus of claim 38, wherein in B), the processing unit: B1)electronically receives ticket information derived from a locate requestticket, the locate request ticket specifying the dig area and requestingperformance of the locate operation; and B2) selects the at least onedigital image based at least in part on the ticket information receivedin B1).
 42. The apparatus of claim 38, wherein in B): the processingunit comprises a location identification unit to provide a geographiclocation of the processing unit; and the processing unit selects the atleast one digital image based at least in part on the geographiclocation of the processing unit provided by the location identificationunit.
 43. The apparatus of claim 38, wherein in B): the processing unitadds to the at least one digital image offset information relating to adistance between the at least one physical colored marker and at leastone environmental landmark in the dig area, wherein the electronicrecord includes the offset information.
 44. The apparatus of claim 38,wherein in B): the processing unit adds to the at least one digitalimage text information relating to the locate operation so as toannotate the at least one digital image, wherein the electronic recordincludes the text information.
 45. The apparatus of claim 38, wherein atleast one attribute of the at least one electronic marker represents atleast one aspect of the at least one underground facility.
 46. Theapparatus of claim 45, wherein: the at least one attribute of the atleast one electronic marker includes at least one of a color, aline-type, a symbol-type, a shape, and a shade.
 47. The apparatus ofclaim 46, wherein: the at least one aspect of the at least oneunderground facility includes a type of the at least one undergroundfacility.
 48. The apparatus of claim 38, wherein the apparatus furtherincludes a user input device communicatively coupled to the processingunit, and wherein in B), the processing unit: adds the at least oneelectronic marker to the at least one digital image via user inputreceived via the user input device.
 49. The apparatus of claim 48,wherein the user input device comprises at least one of a keyboard, akeypad, a touchpad, a mouse, a stylus, a touch screen, and a camera. 50.The apparatus of claim 48, further comprising a display devicecommunicatively coupled to the processing unit, wherein prior to B), theprocessing unit: displays a palette on the display device to facilitateselection of a type of the at least one underground facility from thepalette, and wherein in B), the processing unit: adds the at least oneelectronic marker to the at least one digital image based at least inpart on the type of the at least one underground facility selected fromthe palette.
 51. The apparatus of claim 38, wherein in B), theprocessing unit: B1) electronically receives geographic information fora location of the at least one physical colored marker applied to theground, pavement or other surface in the dig area; and B2) adds the atleast one electronic marker to the at least one digital image based atleast in part on the geographic information received in B1).
 52. Theapparatus of claim 51, wherein in B1), the processing unit:electronically receives the geographic information for the location ofthe at least one physical colored marker from a GPS-enabled markingdevice used to perform the locate operation.
 53. The apparatus of claim52, further comprising the GPS-enabled marking device.
 54. The apparatusof claim 38, wherein in C), the information relating to the electronicrecord includes at least one timestamp indicative of a date and/or atime at which the locate operation is performed.
 55. The apparatus ofclaim 38, wherein the processing unit converts the at least oneelectronic marker to a set of geographic coordinates, and wherein in C),the information relating to the electronic record includes the set ofgeographic coordinates.